Prof. Tara Spires-Jones Personal Chair of Neurodegeneration tara.spires-jones@ed.ac.uk Current research interests Prof Spires-Jones' research research focuses on the mechanisms and reversibility of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, other degenerative brain diseases, and ageing. Working with a vibrant group of researchers, she is trying to understand why some synapses and neurons are resilient while others become dysfunctional and die in these diseases in order to develop effective therapeutic strategies. Her work has shown that soluble forms of the pathological proteins amyloid beta and tau contribute to synapse degeneration, and that lowering levels of these proteins can prevent and reverse phenotypes in model systems. Further, she has pioneered high-resolution imaging techniques in human post-mortem brain and found evidence that these proteins accumulate in synapses in human disease. Her team discovered that tau pathology spreads through brain regions in Alzheimer's disease by jumping through synaptic connections. Tara Spires-Jones has published over 150 peer reviewed papers which have been cited over 25,000 times. Research in a nutshell Memory is made possible by the ability of synapses, the connections between neurons in the brain, to change in response to environmental inputs. In dementia, memory declines because synapses and neurons become dysfunctional and die. Our research focuses on the brain changes that cause Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. We discovered that synapses, the connections between neurons, are damaged by pathological proteins that accumulate in the brains of people with dementias, and that toxic proteins spread through the brain by jumping through synapses. We are working to understand how inflammation contributes to degeneration and the spreading of toxic proteins through the brain. Our long-term goal is to translate knowledge of brain changes in disease into new therapies to stop disease progression or prevent dementias from ever starting. Full research profile, including publications https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/156485bd-f27c-4f1f-afef-1b5984a86813
