The Dementia Australia Research Foundation has announced funding for 23 new research projects with a combined total of $4.5 million invested into Australian dementia research.
Examples of projects funded in the 2025 Grant Program include one aiming to develop personalised dementia prevention strategies. Another will explore how the way brain cells produce energy could hold the key to understanding the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
Adelaide University’s Dr Maddison Mellow was awarded the Dr Maree Farrow Memorial Post-Doctoral Fellowship worth $450,000 to conduct the study into how we can personalise dementia prevention strategies.
‘Although we can’t change getting older, genetics or family history, we know that there are a range of things we can do to reduce our dementia risk, such as getting enough exercise, eating healthy and looking after our heart health,’ Dr Mellow said.
‘Currently there is a “one size fits all” approach to prescribing lifestyle changes when it comes to risk reduction. This approach doesn’t take into account that every individual has unique life experience, health conditions, preferences and daily routines, which means they may need (or prefer) different intervention approaches than the next person.
‘We will examine how factors like age, sex and personal health history impact what interventions result in the best brain health outcomes for each individual and, using this new knowledge, we will create new methods and tools that can be used to design dementia prevention programs fully personalised to the individual.’
Racing against dementia
Senior Research Officer at The Florey Dr Francesca Alves was awarded the Race Against Dementia Post-Doctoral Fellowship worth $735,000 for her project which aims to find new ways to treat Alzheimer’s disease by focusing on how brain cells produce energy.
‘In Alzheimer’s disease, brain cells struggle to produce enough energy to stay healthy and do their jobs properly,’ Dr Alves said. ‘This energy failure may be a key reason why cells become damaged and die, leading to memory loss and other symptoms. Yet most current treatments do not address this problem.
‘With this project we will develop a new brain scan that can measure energy production in the brain. If successful, it could also aid in early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. The final part of the project will be developing and testing a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease by delivering energy directly into brain cells.’
Exciting future
Dementia Australia Research Foundation Chair Professor Graeme Samuel AC congratulated the successful 2025 grant recipients. ‘The range and diversity of projects selected shows there is a very exciting future ahead for dementia research,’ said Professor Samuel.
‘As the largest non-government funder of dementia research, the Dementia Australia Research Foundation is committed to supporting researchers working towards providing better treatment, care and support options for people living with dementia, their families and carers,’ Professor Samuel said.
Dementia Australia CEO Professor Tanya Buchanan said the Dementia Australia Research Foundation’s work wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of donors.
‘All funding for the Dementia Australia Research Foundation is donated by members of the public and by private and philanthropic organisations,’ Professor Buchanan said. ‘Thank you to every single supporter who makes funding such important and exciting Australian dementia research possible.;
The Dementia Australia Research Foundation acknowledges the generosity of donors who support dementia research and the grants program. Since 2000, almost $40 million in funding has supported more than 400 projects through the Dementia Grants Program.
The full list of 2025 Grant Round recipients is available here.
2 Comments
Since not so long time I got aware that I was becoming really old .I read an article telling me that difficulties of walking I that I got and fight recently where coming from my brain cells degenerating before my muscular ones. .My Yoga teacher said the same. My daughter who has a doctorate in Neurology too !!! ! What a good bell ringing for me ! As I was seeing the exit door of life clearly by now, I was not loosing time : I was creating, writing events of my difficult and rich life on my computer and in English for sometimes though I prefer to write in French which allows my”” computer friend ” to run faster in order to follow my easy thinking. and I do so still.
To get old is a new adventure of life s0 I am watching myself. I have started Dementia now so I better move to feel the wholes of some regrets.
That ‘s why I write to you today. I am glad that this field of research is existing. So much needed to help distressed lost people. But I would like to say that one thing which is part of the culture ( so I have to respect is that as the value of someone should not be defined through superficial appearance, it should not be depending at the figures of the e elders age people.
In fact. I witnessed too often, ” knowledgeable” peoples saying non sense or using stupid or aggressive or childish tunes, mostly without any respect. This hurts me. I use to say that a human being is a person once the teen age starts and then if she/he pass 50 years of ag and becomes a thing to be kept preferably in a closed in and which does not make any noise a and problem if you dust it from time to time at your own convenience. Please, use elders as a material for your researches, yes because your conclusions could be useful for them and for the Australian Society.
All the best !
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Good news. We all fear Dementia, so any new developments to prevent or slow it down, are welcome. Sooner the better of course!.