Picture a physicist. Do you imagine someone madly scribbling equations about nuclear energy or black holes? What about someone doing research on dementia? Or figuring out better ways to do high-tech medical imaging? These are the sorts of things a Magnetic Resonance...
An app to help Māori affected by mate wareware (dementia) and to raise awareness of the disease has been launched. The app, Mate Wareware, was developed by researchers from the University of Auckland and AUT University following the largest-ever study of Māori...
Our Dementia Prevention Research Clinics (DPRC) just celebrated an exciting success. After months of extensive preparations in Auckland and with the help of DPRC Tissue Banks in Christchurch and Dunedin, Dr Erin Cawston and her DPRC Tissue Bank team couriered off some...
Brain Research New Zealand (BRNZ) is very interested in addressing a number of brain health-related issues arising from the terrible pandemic that has spread across the globe. Even though New Zealand has been relatively spared, nonetheless ~2000 people have been...
Associate Prof Joanna Williams’ work at the University of Otago is all about blood – and the clues hidden within that might tell us what is going on in the brain. Using the blood as a window into the brain, Joanna aims to find biomarkers that can help us diagnose...
Assoc Prof Ping Liu has been researching L-arginine, a highly versatile semi-essential amino acid, for almost 20 years – and it doesn’t sound like she’ll get tired of it anytime soon. L-arginine is widely present in our bodies, including our brains. What makes...
Even though Māori are diagnosed with dementia much younger than non-Māori, and it is predicted that they will make up 8% of New Zealanders living with dementia by2038, little is known about how this disease affects Māori. Most research is still conducted through a...
Prof Nicola Kayes (Centre for Person Centred Research, AUT) and her team have just launched GREY MATTERS, a website for people who are experiencing changes to their memory and thinking. It is a website to learn about the ageing brain and how to keep your brain...
Dr Meg Spriggs wasn’t always interested in science. “At school I was very much an arts kid,” she says, “and I dropped science in fifth form.” But during her psychology undergraduate at the University of Otago everything changed. Meg was introduced to EEG...
In a world first, Dr Makarena (Margaret) Dudley has described Māori understandings and experiences of the ageing brain and dementia. Her research highlights the importance of cultural identity, oranga wairua (spiritual wellbeing) and whānau support for caring for...
Here in New Zealand, people are living longer, and the average life expectancy for both men and women has steadily increased since the turn of the twentieth century. In 1981, people aged 65+ represented less than 10% of the population [1]. Today that fraction is...
The Dementia Prevention Research Clinic has officially opened in Christchurch on July 26 – the third in a national network of clinics established by Brain Research New Zealand - Rangahau Roro Aotearoa (BRNZ). With the launch of the Christchurch Dementia Prevention...