Bissen Brainwalk contributes to research on dementia diseases
Amyloid plaques form in the brain in Alzheimer's disease. Photo: Getty Images
The Bissen Brainwalk Fund is awarding SEK 250,000 for the benefit of brain research to researcher Greta Hultqvist at Uppsala University. She is going to test a new method of treating Alzheimer’s disease.
“I’m very happy to receive funding from Bissen Brainwalk. The research we’re doing is intended to lead to a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease that will make a real impact for patients. Drugs that have recently come out to treat Alzheimer’s are able for the first time to slow down the progression of the disease, but this effect has so far been only modest,” says Greta Hultqvist, researcher at the Department of Pharmacy at Uppsala University.
Greta Hultqvist, researcher at the Department of Pharmacy at Uppsala University.
The new drugs only bind to a small proportion of the amyloid-beta clumps that cause Alzheimer’s disease. The drug that Hultqvist and her colleagues are developing employs a different mode of action: instead of binding to the clumps it breaks them down.
“This makes it possible to attack all types of clumps and we believe this could make the drug more effective against the disease. We hope this may revolutionise treatment options for patients in the future. The money we are receiving from Bissen Brainwalk will enable us to speed up work on testing this new method of treatment,” Hultqvist says.
Annica Hulth
Bissen Brainwalk
The purpose of the Bissen Brainwalk Fund is to collect money for brain research and to spread information and understanding about the various diseases, injuries and impairments that can affect the brain. Once a year funds that have been collected are distributed in the form of research grants to different areas of brain research.