Dr Fiona Bright the choice for Dementia Advocates' Award
The Dementia Australia Research Foundation has awarded $2.4 million in funding to 18 of Australia's best emerging researchers to undertake innovative dementia research.
Of the successful applicants, Dr Fiona Bright, from Macquarie University has been awarded the 2022 Dementia Advocates’ Award, which is given to the project thought best to deliver important outcomes for people impacted by dementia.
An Advocates group, comprised of Ann Pietsch, Lyntara Quirke, Imelda Gilmore, Cameron Stewart and Kathryn Moyle, had the difficult task of ranking the projects and deciding the award.
Dr Bright was thrilled, saying: “It means so much that the research… has been recognised in this way by the Advocates who are central to our research endeavours.”
Dr Bright and her team will grow human “mini brains” to investigate rare genetic mutations that cause dementia-like symptoms in children and adolescents. Her research will move the field closer to developing treatments for tau-related dementias.
Advocate Kathryn Moyle who helped decide the award said, “I see a strength of this project is [the focus] on understanding the tau pathology irrespective of the age of the person, and as such this study straddles childhood through to old age.”
Learn more about Fiona’s research and read about the full list of grant recipients.
Photo: Dr Fiona Bright, Researcher, Macquarie University