We exist to beat dementia
Hear what people affected by dementia have to say about Race Against Dementia
The stopwatch is ticking. The race is on

Sir Jackie Stewart OBE

Race Against Dementia Dyson Fellow

University of Edinburgh, UK

Dr Claire Durrant earned a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, following her studies in Natural Sciences. In 2019, she became a Race Against Dementia Dyson Fellow, supported by the James Dyson Foundation, which awarded her an additional £1 million in 2021, to expand her Edinburgh research laboratory. Claire uses post-mortem human tissue and organotypic cultures to investigate synapse loss mechanisms in Alzheimer’s and related diseases.

Race Against Dementia Pull Quote

“People haven’t thought of working in this way because biology and engineering are two disciplines that normally sit on parallel tramlines. I can’t think of any other science scheme where you get access to different people and game-changing resources in the same way that you do in the Race Against Dementia Dyson Fellowship; it’s phenomenal.”

Dr Claire Durrant

Claire’s research

Claire investigates the role of tau, a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. She studies how it keeps brain cells connections (synapses) healthy and how these change in Alzheimer’s disease.

Claire is particularly interested in how changes in tau can leave synapses vulnerable to attack from microglia, the brain’s resident immune cell. Her toolkit of experimental models includes a novel human brain thin slice culture technique that allows process analysis.

Dyson engineers help analyse brain samples on an atomic or molecular level, applying in-house equipment and expertise usually targeted at battery research.

Dr Claire Durrant discusses the impact of her collaboration with the technology company, Dyson.
There are lots of ways you can support us. In doing so, you can make a huge difference to research, join the race today.

Help us in the race against dementia

Raise money for much needed research and help us to beat dementia by joining the Race.