Venue: L12 Auditorium, Uren Building, Imperial College London’s White City Campus (address: 86 Wood Ln, London W12 0BZ) 

Abstract: One of the major brain disorders accelerated by ageing is dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) being the major cause. In the UK, approximately a quarter of all NHS hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia, and this is projected to rise sharply over the next two decades. There is currently no cure for AD and dementia. Neuromodulation represents a tenable, non-pharmacological treatment strategy through direct control of the underpinning aberrant neural activity. Yet the complex and heterogeneous nature of the disease presents a major challenge for developing disease-modifying therapeutics. Closedloop neuromodulation is geared to transform the therapeutic development landscape by individually tailoring the treatment in real time. The seminar aspires to advance this nascent field by exploring the rationale, challenges and opportunities for closed-loop neuromodulation in dementia and help seed its interdisciplinary research network. It includes a series of short stimulating talks by leading experts in the field and group discussions. The seminar is hosted by the Closed-loop Neural Interface Technologies (Close-NIT) network and the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK-DRI) Centre at Imperial College London (ICL).

Program:

Introduction. Dr Nir Grossman (UK-DRI, ICL)

Meaningful clinical outcomes of neuromodulation in dementia. Prof Paresh Malhotra (Head of Neurology, ICL) & ED (a patient with early-stage AD)

Functional biomarkers for closed-loop neuromodulation in dementia. Dr Emma-Jane Mallas (postdoc researcher, UK-DRI & ICL)) & Dr Danielle Kurtin (postdoc researcher, UK-DRI & ICL)

Principles of neural perturbations and implications for dementia. Dr Sadra Sadeh (Research Fellow, ICL) What can we learn from the more established closed-loop glucose control in diabetes? Prof Pantelis Georgiou (ICL)