Question: There has been a lot on the news about Dementia research and even David Cameron himself has commented on it. How close do you actaully think we are to a solution? Thank you! P.S you're a legend :) Didn't realise engineers could have such a good sence of humour! Hahah, Thanks!

Alex Lyness answered on 21 Jun 2014:

Hey emilyhewhew,

That is a great question as dementia is one of the biggest health challenges we face over the next Century. The older everybody lives the more likely they are to develop age-related diseases. David Cameron launched the Dementia Challenge in 2012 and it should hopefully focus research in this area, you can read more about it here: http://dementiachallenge.dh.gov.uk/about-the-challenge/

At Loughborough University one of my colleagues Dr. Alexandra Stolzing (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/mechman/staff/alexandra-stolzing.html) is pioneering researching into curing or preventing the effects of Alzheimer’s disease using stem cells delivered into the nose. There are some treatments round the world that have been shown promise in work with mice or dogs, the real tricky bit is then trying to translate this work into humans.

Hopefully over the next 50 years treatments will be developed to cure or prevent dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other age-related diseases. I think our generations may be the first to benefit for such a treatment.