Francesca Alves
Targeting bioenergetic failure in Alzheimer’s disease: novel models, diagnostics and therapeutics
Award
Race Against Dementia - Dementia Australia Research Foundation Post-doctoral Fellowship
Status
In progress
Start Date
1 March 2026
About the project
What is the focus of the research?
Investigating how impaired energy production contributes to brain cell damage and Alzheimer’s disease progression.
Why is this important?
This project focuses on a largely overlooked problem in Alzheimer’s disease: the failure of brain cells to produce enough energy to function and survive.
Growing evidence suggests that disrupted energy production in brain cells plays a major role in cognitive decline. Unfortunately, there are no tools to directly measure this process in living brains and no therapies designed to restore energy at the cellular level.
Current Alzheimer’s disease treatments offer limited benefits and do not address the underlying causes of brain cell degeneration. Dr Alves aims to address a critical gap in dementia science by targeting this fundamental mechanism, in the hope that it will open the door to more effective diagnostic and treatment strategies.
What could it mean for dementia research?
Methods to measure how much energy brain cells are producing in Alzheimer’s disease.
- Better research models to understand why brain cells lose energy and die.
- New treatment approaches that restore energy in the brain.
- Stronger tools to test the effectiveness of future dementia treatments.
Where are they now?
Dr Alves is an early-career dementia researcher at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne. She is aiming to develop new drug targets for Alzheimer’s disease.
