Professor James Hodge and BRACE-funded PhD student Amy Preston recently welcomed some of the BRACE team into their labs at the University of Bristol.

You may know that deafness is a risk factor for developing dementia, but researchers aren’t sure why. Professor Hodge, with the support of Amy Preston, is looking into this link using gene editing in fruit flies. Even though they are so much smaller, flies have some of the same types of cells in their brains as ours, and we share around 60% of our DNA with them. Fruit flies are also used in research because they have short lifespans and can be studied with a wide range of genetic tools, making research more cost and time effective.

In the first year of Amy’s PhD, she worked with the research team to set up tools to study the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in the flies. They started using a gene-editing method called CRISPR to delete parts the Ctl2 gene in the flies. They did this to find out which parts of the gene contribute to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. They also experimented by reducing the activity of the Ctl2 gene, which resulted in effects like those seen in patients with Alzheimer’s, such as reduced memory and trouble with sleep.

James and Amy hope that their research will lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a better understanding of the link between deafness and dementia.

UOB Lab News (2)

Professor James Hodge says:

"BRACE funding is really important for fundamental Alzheimer’s research. It’s important to have a dedicated funding stream which prioritises Alzheimer’s research and novel blue sky research into Alzheimer’s.

Thank you so much for everybody who's donated to BRACE. It really helps scientists to contribute to our understanding of these fundamental, important processes and gives hope for the future.”

BRACE is proud to have funded a total of £1.12 million in research projects at the University of Bristol, over the past 5 years.