The best podcasts to learn more about living with dementia and research into diagnosis

A good place to start is to hear from people living with dementia to understand how the symptoms developed, and what it is like to live with the disease. In this show we hear from Chris Roberts⁠ and ⁠Jayne Goodrick. Chris was diagnosed with mixed dementia in early 2012 but has not let this diagnosis get in the way of leading a full life. He and his amazing wife Jayne, spend most of their time promoting and providing education to others about dementia. Chris regularly give talks on what it’s like to live with dementia and how research plays an important role in unlocking new treatments and better care, supported by Jayne who provides unique insights as someone living with the disease in a different way. Together they believe in dementia rights, inclusion, co-production and the promotion of better services for everyone living with dementia.

The next stage in this journey is exploring diagnosis. Whilst everyone may experience dementia and its symptoms differently, the pathway to diagnosis is very similar for most people, but could all that be about to change? In this show Adam Smith, speaks to a Psychiatrist, a Neurologist and a Scientist. They discuss the current diagnosis pathway in the UK, the tests involved, and how that could change as with the development of blood based biomarkers. Exploring the science behind the new tests, their development, and how these new tests could be used in frontline services to improve accuracy, support clinical trials and to improve care – and is the NHS ready? This show has guests Dr Elizabeth Coulthard, Consultant Neurologist and Associate Professor at University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust. Dr Josie Jenkinson, Consultant Psychiatrist for Older People and Clinical Academic at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust. Dr Amanda Heslegrave, Senior Research Fellow focussed on Biomarkers in Neurodegeneration at the UK Dementia Research Institute at University College London. Emerging blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer disease are an exciting new development. They could provide an accessible, easy to delivery and inexpensive screening tool. Looking to the future, when disease-modifying or prevention treatments will be available, investigators are focused on how to detect the earliest biological signals of Alzheimer disease, perhaps even years or decades before clinical symptoms appear – and that’s when these tests could really become essential. However, how could they be used now? Could they improve accuracy of diagnosis? Replace the need for other more expensive tests? Ensure we no longer have to send people home, telling them they have Mild Cognitive Impairment? Reduce misdiagnosis? Patients and their families want to know, Is this Alzheimer disease, or something that can be reversed? Can we answer that question now? And Could this new biomarker help? All will be discussed in this weeks show.

Great progress has been made over the past decade in the development of blood based bio-markers to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. However, other areas have been quietly working away, and have also made significant progress. In this podcast we explore two of the newest and most innovative technologies being applied to detect biomarkers for dementia – looking at the retina and brainwaves. Dr Amanda Heslegrave, Senior Research Fellow at the UK Dementia Research Institute, University College London and one of the people behind the progress being made in blood-based biomarker field is out guest host. Dr Catherine Bornbaum, Head of Clinical Operations and Partnerships at Retispec. Catherine, uses innovative imaging technology combined with robust machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease throughout the eye. The eye provides a simple and non-invasive way to measure the central nervous system; it is also the only organ where both neurons and blood vessels can be directly visualized at micron-level resolution. Dr George Stothart, Senior Lecturer at University of Bath. George is a cognitive neuroscientist who translates the findings of cognitive neuroscience into useful tools for clinicians and the wider world. His primary research focus is the development of a new EEG technique, known as Fastball, for the assessment of cognitive deficits in dementia. Fastball EEG is a completely passive test which measures brain waves the patient looks at a series of images on a computer screen over two minutes – a completely new assessment technique.

Detection and treatment of dementia benefits greatly from understanding the full scope of "typical" behaviour, which can increasingly be captured using big data methodology. Dr Anna Volkmer and Dr Vitor Zimmerer from the Department of Language and Cognition at University College London have a chat about the importance of understanding diversity in a population for dementia research, mostly using language and communication, which are their subjects of study, as examples.

Dr Anna Volkmer hosts a discussion with three researchers who use Gait Analysis as a key element of their research. Dr Riona McArdle, Research Associate at Newcastle University; Dr Keir Yong, Senior Research Fellow at University College London and Dr Silvia Del Din, Senior Research Associate at Newcastle University Gait is a person’s pattern of walking. Walking involves balance and coordination of muscles so that the body is propelled forward in a rhythm. There are numerous possibilities that may cause an abnormal gait, many of which are neurological, which is why Gait and Dementia are considered in research and could potentially be a new way to help decide which type of dementia someone has.