Flagship vascular dementia research centre celebrates official opening

We recently marked the official launch of the BHF-UK DRI Centre for Vascular Dementia Research (CVDR), the UK’s first research centre dedicated to revolutionising understanding and treatment of vascular dementia, in partnership with the British Heart Foundation.

The new centre brings together leading researchers in the field, whose work spans fundamental research through to biomarker discovery and treatment development. The centre aims to unravel the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying vascular dementia, to develop targeted therapeutic interventions.

The launch event was attended by over 120 scientists and industry representatives, and served as an opportunity for each new Group Leader to introduce themselves and their scientific programme to the community.

UK DRI Director Prof Siddharthan Chandran and BHF Chief Scientific and Medical Officer Prof Bryan Williams welcomed attendees and gave a short introduction outlining the challenge of vascular dementia and the opportunity presented by the new centre.

CVDR Centre Director Prof David Attwell introduced the mission of the centre – to understand the mechanisms causing blood vessel dysfunction, in order to find new treatments for people affected by vascular dementia. Then, the Group Leaders had the opportunity to give a short talk about their research, followed by a panel session where they discussed the centre’s goals in the context of the wider vascular dementia research ecosystem.

Below, the team explain how the new centre will approach the challenge of vascular dementia:

Reflecting on the event, Prof David Attwell said: 

“It was fantastic to welcome everyone to the launch of our new centre, set up to understand the mechanisms and develop treatments for vascular dementia, which is responsible for about 30% of all dementia cases in the UK and in fact, across the world. The role of the vascular system in dementia has been massively underestimated and understudied historically. So we’ve assembled a team here, equipped to study all aspects of vascular dementia – to try and tackle this huge challenge to society.”