Researchers, based at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry, have discovered a gene linked to Alzheimer’s already affects young people’s brains decades before any symptoms appear.
People who carry the gene, called APOE4, are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, but scientists do not yet know how or why.
The research could help identify people at risk of developing the disease, letting them change their lifestyle before it is too late.
Now a follow-up study, funded by a £91,500 grant from the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, will see PhD student Verena Heise use state-of-the-art brain scanning techniques to look at how and why these differences occur.