Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Accept all cookies Reject all non-essential cookies Find out more

A decade of DPUK research

Dementias Platform UK is ten years old. We launched in 2014 and have over the decade built an infrastructure which has enabled wide-ranging research and brought together a collaborative community in dementia research. During the 2024 Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD) conference, Professor John Gallacher was reflecting on a decade of hard work by the large team past and present at DPUK.

Patrick Vallance speaking at the launch of DPUK with Life Sciences Minister George Freeman PM listening. © Dementias Platform UK

As I walk between meetings here at CTAD in Madrid, I keep bumping into the many collaborators we have enjoyed over the last 10 years. It is satisfying to realise how well known and respected DPUK has become. Yes, it is 10 years since Patrick Valance the Government Science Advisor, and George Freeman MP (the then Life Sciences Minister) spoke at our launch at the Royal Society.

Over time, DPUK has persistently pursued its goal of bringing the community together around an ethos of high-trust and pre-competition; sharing ideas, technologies, and data. As we stand today, we have one of the best cohort data repositories globally (>1,100 users in 44 countries), possibly the UK’s largest trials register (>73,000 members), the UK’s largest trials site network (64 sites), and centres of excellence in human mechanistic studies of synaptic function, neuro-inflammation, and cognitive vascular health. Above our core MRC funding of £19.5m we have leveraged a further £100m from industry, charities and research council awards. According to Research Fish (that fount of all knowledge) we have managed >3,700 outputs. I say ‘we’ because DPUK stands on the shoulders of you, the many giants that have contributed so selflessly.

John Gallacher at desk

Since inception, DPUK has adapted to a fast-changing landscape. The recent, and very welcome, injection of government interest is a tribute to the many who have championed the cause of dementia, particularly within the MRC, and by ARUK and the Alzheimer’s Society, over the years. Today DPUK is expanding into the blood biomarker world with our Read-Out and FAST studies. The intention here is to inform the design and conduct of precision trials, as well as to de-risk trials for industry. Our data interests are diversifying into imaging, genetics, drug re-purposing, machine learning, brain injury (TBI-Reporter), MND (Accelerator and Catalyst) and brain tissue (UKNTN) to name but a few. For trials, we look forward to playing a major role in the early detection and treatment of neurodegeneration through rapid and targeted recruitment and innovative trial design.

All this serves to recognise the contributions of the wider DPUK family. There are dementia platforms in Australia and Korea, alongside sister data platforms including the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative Workbench, and GAAIN. Within the UK we look forward to more joint programmes with UKDRI and UKHDR.

Just a final observation from CTAD. The discussion at CTAD has been largely conservative in ideas and risk-taking; unsurprising, given the importance of regulatory approval for new drugs. However, the future lies with innovation. As DPUK moves forward, we will relentlessly pursue an underlying programme of improvement for data access, trials delivery and experimental medicine.