Networking event highlighted the importance of industry and academia working together to solve R+D problems in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease
'Neurodegenerative Disorders: Addressing the latest developments in stem cell therapy, imaging and drug development' drew representatives from top-level researchers and pharmaceutical firms to the Institute of Physics, for an evening of presentations and networking.
Held on 6 February 2008, the event centred around a key problem: the lack of a treatment that reverses neurodegeneration in its disease progression.
Neurodegenerative disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent due to prolonged life expectancies, with one in five people likely to develop the illness in their 80s.
It has become imperative to find better ways of diagnosing the diseases earlier to slow its progression to a manageable level.
Speaker professor Jack Price of King's College London outlined his exciting work using stem cells, which can now be used as a laboratory tool for screening potential drugs.
Nicola Sibson of the University of Oxford revealed encouraging results from animal imaging in which a much earlier diagnosis was possible, with potential application in human subjects.
Eli Lilly's Philip Szekeres and GlaxoSmithKline's Jill Richardson outlined the latest strategies in drug discovery and development.
Networking was held among technology displays from universities across London, the east and south-east of England, although it was research from the University of Oxford which attracted the most attention: with a unique way of treating Alzheimer's using stem cells.
