Fiona Bright

What is the focus of the research?

Investigating why dementia in children appears to involve accelerated brain ageing and increased inflammation, a process known as “inflammaging”.

Why is this important?

Childhood dementia is rare, devastating and poorly understood. By the time most children are diagnosed, the disease is already advanced, limiting treatment options. While inflammation and ageing are known drivers of dementia in adults, their role in childhood dementia isn’t well studied.

Using advanced laboratory models made from patient stem cells – including mini brains grown in a petri dish – Dr Bright will track how inflammation and ageing interact over time and how they relate to disease severity and progression. The goal is to identify biological markers that can help monitor disease in real time and pinpoint the best timing for treatment.

Understanding these processes could reveal why the disease progresses so rapidly in children and open new opportunities to detect, monitor and treat childhood dementia earlier and more effectively.

What could this mean for childhood dementia research?

• New ways to track disease progression in living children.
• Better identification of when treatments are most likely to work.
• Stronger foundations for targeted drug development and clinical trials.
• Insights that may also apply to early-onset dementia in adults.

Dr Bright is a post-doctoral research fellow at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. Her background is in paediatric neuropathology and she has expertise in early-onset neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia.