Hear from Dr Laura Palmer
While at university my beloved grandmother,
who lived with us at the time, developed dementia. It was really her being affected by that disease that made me want to take on this role. I wanted to make a difference both to people with the disease and also their families living with it.
The Brain Bank is a vital resource. You cannot get to clinical trial without using human brain tissue first.
Without it, we wouldn’t have drugs for Alzheimer’s disease.
But despite this, Laura’s job - and the South West Dementia Brain Bank - is at risk.
More funding is needed to secure her role. To secure dementia research. Without skilled staff like Laura, the Brain Bank would have to close.
We’re incredibly lucky that we have a large register of people willing to donate their brains. What we struggle with is the costs to make it happen.
We need people to run the equipment, to look after tissue, do the things that machines can’t.
The BRACE funded technician, for example, has been instrumental in processing over 11,000 samples.
I’m really hopeful for the future of dementia research. We can make a difference. But we’re
still one of the most underfunded disease areas.
You can really see why we’re not able to make the huge successes we’ve seen in other conditions, such as cancer, when you compare the funding.
Dementia research receives 5 times less funding than cancer research, even though dementia is the number one killer in the UK.
Please support the Brain Bank. Together we
will defeat dementia.
Dr Laura Palmer
South West Dementia Brain Bank Manager
£5 could help Laura prepare and transport tissue samples to researchers.
£15 could provide the
tools to map 10,000 genes.
£38 could fund a full hour of vital research to find a cure for dementia.
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