The MRC Dementia Research Platform UK (DPUK) held its launch event on the 28th October at the Royal Society in London.
The partnership brings together world leading researchers from universities across the UK including: Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Swansea, Newcastle, Imperial College London, University College London, Manchester and Bristol. To facilitate rapid translation there is a strong industry involvement. Six UK and international companies: Araclon, GSK, Ixico, Janssen, MedImmune and Somalogic have signed a consortium agreement which will allow shared access to the unique research resources in the DPUK, and to provide a basis for instigating joint studies.
Oxford plays a significant role in the partnership and Oxford Neuroscience researchers lead a number of projects. This was reflected in the scientific programme of launch day. Simon Lovestone (Psychiatry) gave a talk on the NIHR-MRC Dementia Deep and Frequent Phenotyping Feasibility Study while Richard Wade-Martins (DPAG) spoke on the UK Stem Cell Network.