Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastating and progressive condition that leads to dementia. With an aging population, the disease is becoming more common in our society so research is urgently needed to understand the causes and then develop better treatments.

Many of us know someone who has been affected by Alzheimer’s disease and we know how cruel a condition it can be. The Dr Hadwen Trust (DHT) is funding an innovative and exciting project to drive forward research that will assist the future development of better therapies for those with AD.

This project by Professor Robin Williams at Royal Holloway, University of London, is using a single-celled amoeba called Dictyostelium to replace work that traditionally uses many animals. Professor Williams and his team will use the Dictyostelium to model the development and cell function of presenilin proteins, which are known to be involved in the inherited form of AD.