The meeting showcased abstracts, posters, and keynote speakers with new research from across Scotland, with exhibition stands from Canon, Health Informatics Centre, the University of Dundee, Life MI, NordicNeuroLab, Siemens Healthineers, Tayside Innovation, Medtech Ecosystem, and the Brain Health ARC.  

​Sheena McGowan, Project Manager for the ARC, shared our latest news, including the recent webinar series, seed funding opportunities, and the Bio-Hermes data challenge. ​

As a third-year Immunology student at the University of Glasgow, I have always been fascinated by the immune system’s role in brain health and its impact on neurological diseases. This summer, my curiosity led me to a unique opportunity to dive into the world of science research, particularly focusing on brain health. Under the mentorship of Professor Terry Quinn, Brain Health ARC Director, and his team, I was given an immersive experience into all aspects of research management. I had the incredible opportunity to meet inspiring individuals, learn new information, and engage in a variety of exciting activities.  

The Brain Health ARC is currently leading an exciting project to map brain health across Scotland. Jinzhou Wu, a master’s student in Medical Visualisation who is interning at the ARC, is designing an interactive map which will be a powerful tool for researchers across Scotland, and potentially around the world, to understand what brain health work is happening across Scotland. Before the data can be mapped, it needs to be collected, and I was fortunate to be involved in this. I was tasked with gathering data for the Glasgow area, which gave me the opportunity to learn about the incredible work of individuals in Glasgow and the various research groups at the University of Glasgow, including the Stroke Group and Cognitive Impairment & Dementia Group. Jinzhuo and I discussed his vision, delving into the coding and visualisation programs he planned to use. Through this conversation, I picked up valuable knowledge and tips on structuring data, choosing the best graphs and plots for visualising information, and the criticality of cleaning data for accurate visualisations. This has broadened my technical skills and deepened my understanding of the connection between data science and brain health research.  

The Brain Health ARC also recently hosted a webinar series aimed at those starting their research careers or are new to research. I was tasked with reviewing the webinars from an outsider's perspective and providing feedback on what worked well and what could be improved. This assignment allowed me to watch a range of informative sessions and learn insightful information from the topics discussed.  
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During my two weeks with the ARC, I had the opportunity to shadow Kalliopi Mavromati (Data Manager for the Bio-Hermes Data Challenge and Research Assistant at the University of Glasgow). Kalliopi's role in her research projects fascinated me, and I was very impressed with her dedication and hard work. Through meeting Kalliopi, I gained invaluable tips for steering my own career in the right direction.  

Following this, I met Stelios Lamprou, who explained his work within the Brain Health ARC for the Bio-Hermes Data Challenge. Stelios showed me the programs he uses for data coding alongside the coding script and language used to write code to create connections in the data. This gave me an insight into the complexity of coding such an extensive dataset!  

I also met Millie Mather (Communications Officer for the four ARCs). We discussed her role within the Brain Health ARC, including website management, newsletters and social media updates. Millie highlighted the importance of using accessible language to make complex information relatable and engaging for the public, in turn encouraging more people to get involved and contribute to the ARC’s mission. I also met Sheena McGowan, Brain Health Project Manager, who gave me an insight into planning aspects of research management. 

The highlight of my internship was attending the annual Scottish Dementia Research Consortium conference in Dundee, held in collaboration with the Neuroprogressive and Dementia Research Network. This was my first conference, and I was amazed by the passion everyone showed for their topics.

Overall, this two-week internship has been a rewarding experience. I gained practical skills, deepened my understanding of brain health research, and made important connections that will help shape my future career.  

Join the Brain Health ARC mailing list for news and opportunities. ​

Earlier this month, the Brain Health Alliance, alongside Glasgow Caledonian University, presented a two-day workshop exploring the impact of lifestyle factors on brain health. Welcoming speakers from as far as South Australia, the first day featured break-out sessions and input from voices in academia and social enterprise, while the second day offered a collaborative space for grant writing. ​

Hosted and facilitated by Prof Sebastien Chastin, attendees were joined remotely by Prof Ashleigh Smith and Dr Maddison Mellow from the University of South Australia to hear about their 24-hour lifestyle intervention research in rural communities. This examined creating the “ideal day” for brain health ageing and dementia risk reduction. 

Dr Terry Quinn, director of the Brain Health Alliance, gave an outline of the origins and ambitions of the ARC and an update on the BioHermes data challenge. Prof Greet Cardon of Ghent University shared evidence-based lifestyle interventions with a focus on physical activity to benefit brain health.  

Moving from academia to social enterprise, Pasna Sallis of WeekdayWow shared her experience of creating a community of fun, freedom and friendship to enhance the brain health and well-being of senior members.  

Lifestyle factors also included the impact of sleep and cognition in brain health with Dr Maria Valdes Hernandez from Edinburgh University, and nutrition and cognition through the life course with Dr Rebecca Townsend from the University of Newcastle. 

To conclude day one, Ailin Chen from Stirling University joined remotely for an update on Brain Health Scotland and their mission to inspire and empower individuals to protect their brain health and reduce the risk of diseases that lead to dementia.  

Day two was a facilitated writing retreat to give attendees an overview of upcoming funding opportunities, the space to review ideas, and begin drafting proposals.  

Thank you to everyone who joined and collaborated!

​Kalliopi Mavromati is a researcher with a background in psychology who is currently working with the Scottish Funding Council’s Brain Health Alliance for Research Challenges (ARC). In this short blog she introduces the ARCs and talks about her experiences as a guest at the launch of another ARC themed around quantum technologies.

Envisioning a creative and dynamic researcher community, the ARCs aim to support Early Career Researchers (ECRs)  development through lectures and workshops, alongside unique opportunities. ARCs encourage applicants to establish new collaborations that involves ECRs and considers Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Diverse expertise is encouraged to drive research creativity through interdisciplinary collaboration. 

The ARCs further aim to bridge the gap between academic output and tangible impact. This is achieved through collaboration with Scottish public institutions, including various local councils. Ultimately, projects supported by the ARC through seed funding and other opportunities are anticipated to translate academic observations into actionable output that can directly inform policy and impact current applications. ​

Indeed, the Quantum ARC’s organisers and invited speakers eloquently demonstrated how someone with my background and familiarity with quantum could substantially contribute to the Quantum ARC’s commitment to stimulate new solutions that are inclusive, sustainable, and ethical by design. The ARC’s vision for a quantum society built on quantum science clearly illustrated to me the need for cross-discipline collaboration to support application-driven research. The importance of public outreach to not only promote but also inform research also struck me as tremendously relevant to brain health research.
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For me, a key takeaway from this experience was the importance of bridging communication gaps between disciplines to realise novel ideas that truly have the potential to transform practice. If there’s one message you take away from this blog post, let it be that no matter your background as a researcher, the ARCs invite your drive and expertise to transform brain health, energy, food, and quantum practice. ​

 Calling the Scottish Dementia Research Community - are you ready for the Bio-Hermes data challenge?

The Bio-Hermes cohort consists of around 1,200 deeply phenotyped participants. Diversity was an aim, and the cohort includes groups who are less often part of research.

The Bio-Hermes Dataset comprises of 80,000 multimodal dementia biomarkers including data on blood biomarkers, CSF, genetics, proteomics, cognitive tests, imaging and clinical.

The resource includes 15 digital cognitive tests, 25 blood based biomarkers, raw data from imaging and extensive clinical and demographic data.

The Global Alzheimer Platform have made the dataset publicly available and research teams who would like to work with Bio-Hermes data are invited to apply.

We have streamlined the data access process, and all approvals and governance will be handled by our team, leaving researchers to focus on the science and the data.

Teams may have exciting ideas for a project, but lack expertise in data management, analysis or data interpretation. We can help, and applicants can request support from our in-house data scientists, project managers, and panel of research leaders in dementia.

This is a time limited opportunity. Apply now to access this unique resource. 

Final date for submission of applications is March 31st 2024.