Dementia Researcher Vodcast

Welcome to the seventh season of the Dementia Researcher X ISTAART PIA Relay Podcast. Across six episodes, leading early career and senior researchers hand the mic from one ISTAART PIA to the next, giving you an honest, peer-to-peer tour of where dementia research is actually heading, from wearables and biomarkers to policy and trial design, in the run-up to AAIC.
Sleep might be one of the earliest windows we have into brain health, and Dr Vanessa Young thinks the way we measure it is about to change. Fresh from finishing her PhD in May, Vanessa is a postdoc at the Glenn Biggs Institute and Communications Chair of the Technology and Dementia PIA. She studies sleep and the ageing brain, where the relationship seems to run both ways: as dementia develops, sleep gets worse, and poor sleep may feed back into the disease. With host Dr Carla Abdelnour, she gets into digital biomarkers, why wearables let you capture sleep continuously at home rather than in a one-off sleep study, and the move from wearables to "nearables", bed sensors and room radar that ask nothing of the participant at all. They also cover the analysis headache that comes with years of continuous data, the equity problem when a study needs home Wi-Fi, and what the PIA has planned for its full-day AAIC preconference on AI.
Takeaways
Sleep and dementia feed each other, so sleep is worth studying as somewhere we might actually step in and help.
Wearables capture sleep night after night at home, which reaches people who live nowhere near a big sleep centre.
The field is shifting from wearables to "nearables", sensors in the mattress or radar in the room, to cut participant burden and bias.
Years of continuous data brings its own problem: telling meaningful signal apart from background noise.
If a study needs Wi-Fi to send its data, it quietly excludes people, so digital equity has to be designed in.

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The Alzheimer’s Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART) convenes the global Alzheimer’s and dementia science community. Members share knowledge, fuel collaboration and advance research to find more effective ways to detect, treat and prevent Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Professional Interest Areas (PIA) are an assembly of ISTAART members with common subspecialties or interests.
There are currently 30 PIAs covering a wide range of interests and fields, from Neuroimaging to Diversity and Disparities and everything in between.
Find out more at https://istaart.alz.org/
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A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, you will find a video version of this podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and on our website.
Leave us a tip:
https://dementia-researcher.captivate.fm/support
Follow us on social media:
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https://www.twitter.com/demrescommunity
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https://bsky.app/profile/dementiaresearcher.bsky.social

Download and Register with our Community App:
https://www.onelink.to/dementiaresearcher
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The views and opinions expressed by guests in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the producers, funders, or sponsors.
Subscribe to our sister show 'Dementia Researcher The Blogs':
https://podfollow.com/dementia-researcher-blogs

Most people with dementia live, and many die, at home. The person who knows them best in those final months is often not a clinician but a home care worker coming through the door several times a day, doing some of the hardest work in the dementia pathway with little training and almost no research behind them. This episode asks what good home care actually looks like, why it is so hard to deliver, and what one study is doing about it.
Host Dr Alice Carstairs is joined by the PALLDEM Homecare team from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King's College London: Dr Lesley Williamson, who co-leads the study; research assistant Annika Dhawan, who runs the engagement work; and Dr Clare Ellis-Smith, who developed the IPOS Dem outcome measure. They are joined by lived experience expert Alan Richardson, who cared for his mother for 15 years, and Tony O'Flaherty, director at Home Instead Wandsworth, Lambeth and Dulwich.
Together they cover what IPOS Dem is, why home care gets so little attention, what it really takes to get a tool used on the ground, and why recognition for this workforce is overdue.
Essential Links:
Famileo - https://bit.ly/FamileoDR26
PALLDEM-Homecare - https://bit.ly/4e6bdvd
IPOS-Dem - https://bit.ly/4vJgkaA

Key topics:
Role of home care workers in dementia support
Implementation of iPOSDEM in home care settings
Challenges and solutions in home care for dementia
Research and innovation in community dementia care

This episode is sponsored by Famileo. Helping families living with dementia stay close with a personalised printed magazine, delivered monthly. Over a quarter of a million families already use Famileo to stay connected. First month free with code DR26. https://bit.ly/FamileoDR26
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A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, you will find a video version of this podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and on our website.
Leave us a tip:
https://dementia-researcher.captivate.fm/support
Follow us on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/dementia_researcher/
https://www.facebook.com/Dementia.Researcher/
https://www.twitter.com/demrescommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementia-researcher
https://bsky.app/profile/dementiaresearcher.bsky.social

Download and Register with our Community App:
https://www.onelink.to/dementiaresearcher
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The views and opinions expressed by guests in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the producers, funders, or sponsors.
Subscribe to our sister show 'Dementia Researcher The Blogs':
https://podfollow.com/dementia-researcher-blogs
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This podcast is sponsored by Famileo. The sponsor had no involvement in the planning, production, editorial decisions, or content of this episode.

In this episode, Professor Louise Serpell brings together Dr Niranjan Bose from the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative, Jonathan Hoover from the AI company Prima Mente, and Dr Kexin Huang from Stanford University and Biomni AD. They discuss the Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize and what agentic AI could mean for the future of dementia research.
We hear about the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative and AD Workbench, and their role in making research data more accessible, usable and secure. The conversation also looks at how the Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize could help researchers make better use of that data, turning complex resources into practical tools for discovery.
Kexin introduces Biomni AD, an AI research assistant designed to help scientists develop questions, bring data together and move from ideas to results more efficiently. Jonathan introduces Parthenon and Athena, a virtual wet lab system that helps researchers model cell states, test perturbations and plan experiments.
Together, the guests consider how AI can support researchers without replacing human judgement, and why confidence in using these tools is likely to become an important skill for dementia researchers.
Essential Links:
Sign up for AD Workbench
Learn more about the AD Data Initiative
Learn more about the Alzheimer's Insights AI Prize
Prima Mente
Biomni-AD

In this episode:
AI can support researchers by helping with data, workflows and experimental planning, but it still needs human judgement, review and validation.
AD Workbench from Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative is helping make dementia research data more accessible, usable and secure, giving researchers better ways to work across complex datasets.
Agentic AI could help researchers move more quickly from a research question to an analysis plan, useful evidence or a possible experiment.
Biomni AD, Parthenon and Athena show how AI tools are becoming more specialised, from research assistants to virtual wet lab systems.
AI literacy is likely to become an important skill for dementia researchers, including those without coding or data science backgrounds.

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A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, you will find a video version of this podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and on our website.
Leave us a tip:
https://dementia-researcher.captivate.fm/support
Follow us on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/dementia_researcher/
https://www.facebook.com/Dementia.Researcher/
https://www.twitter.com/demrescommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementia-researcher
https://bsky.app/profile/dementiaresearcher.bsky.social

Download and Register with our Community App:
https://www.onelink.to/dementiaresearcher
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The views and opinions expressed by guests in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the producers, funders, or sponsors.
Subscribe to our sister show 'Dementia Researcher The Blogs':
https://podfollow.com/dementia-researcher-blogs

What happens when academia no longer feels like the right fit, but research still does?
In this episode, Adam Smith is joined by Dr Ellice Parkinson from Health Innovation East, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' English from the British Heart Foundation, and Dr Alice Carstairs from Alzheimer’s Society to talk about leaving academia while staying connected to research.
Together, they explore the career turns that took them from PhDs and lab work into roles in health innovation, charity, policy, evaluation, public engagement and research communications. They discuss what helped them make the move, what felt difficult, and how skills built in academia can be used in many different settings.
The conversation covers identity, confidence, networking, mentoring, transferable skills, and the quiet pressure many researchers feel to stay on a traditional academic path. It also challenges the idea that leaving academia means leaving research behind.
For PhD students, early career researchers, and anyone wondering what else might be possible, this episode offers practical advice, reassurance, and examples of careers where research still sits at the centre of meaningful work.
In this episode:
Explore how researchers transition from academia to impactful roles in health innovation, research impact analysis, and science communication.
Discover the metaphor of "doors" in academic careers and how choosing different paths can sustain meaningful research.
Hear personal stories from former PhD students who found success and fulfillment outside traditional university settings.
Learn about the transferable skills that ease the transition into non-academic roles and how to leverage them.
Gain insights into the importance of networking, mentorship, and aligning career choices with personal passions and societal needs.

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A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, you will find a video version of this podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and on our website.
Leave us a tip:
https://dementia-researcher.captivate.fm/support
Follow us on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/dementia_researcher/
https://www.facebook.com/Dementia.Researcher/
https://www.twitter.com/demrescommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementia-researcher
https://bsky.app/profile/dementiaresearcher.bsky.social

Download and Register with our Community App:
https://www.onelink.to/dementiaresearcher
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The views and opinions expressed by guests in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the producers, funders, or sponsors.
Subscribe to our sister show 'Dementia Researcher The Blogs':
https://podfollow.com/dementia-researcher-blogs

Globally, women are twice as likely as men to experience depression and anxiety, and the risk peaks at moments of hormonal change: postpartum, the luteal phase, perimenopause. Why?
In this episode of XXplored, host Dr Laura Stankeviciute, University of Gothenburg is joined by Professor Vibe Gedsø Frøkjær, a leading researcher on serotonin and sex hormones at the University of Copenhagen, and Franziska Weinmar, a psychoneuroendocrinology PhD researcher at the University of Tübingen and host of the Let's Talk About Women podcast.
They get into the biology behind hormone shift sensitivity, what oestrogen actually does to the serotonin system, and why the gut-brain axis might matter more for women's mental health than most clinicians appreciate. They also tackle hormonal contraception and depression risk, why suicide statistics look so different by gender, and where the field still has big gaps to close.
Key takeaways
Women are twice as likely as men to experience depression and anxiety, with risk clustering around hormonal transitions.
The serotonin system is built to respond to sex hormones, which makes it a likely route by which hormonal shifts affect mood.
Women differ in how sensitive their brains are to hormone shifts, and that sensitivity helps explain why some experience mood symptoms and others don't.
The gut-brain axis is a real frontier for women's mental health, and may open up new treatment options through drug repurposing.
Hormonal contraception works well for most women but carries a small heightened risk of depression that clinicians should counsel on more openly.
Emotion regulation is a trainable skill and a useful clinical target across hormonal transitions.
Gender differences in suicide reflect both how distress is expressed and how the care system recognises and responds to it.

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A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.
If you prefer to watch rather than listen, you will find a video version of this podcast on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and on our website.
Leave us a tip:
https://dementia-researcher.captivate.fm/support
Follow us on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/dementia_researcher/
https://www.facebook.com/Dementia.Researcher/
https://www.twitter.com/demrescommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementia-researcher
https://bsky.app/profile/dementiaresearcher.bsky.social

Download and Register with our Community App:
https://www.onelink.to/dementiaresearcher
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The views and opinions expressed by guests in this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the producers, funders, or sponsors.
Subscribe to our sister show 'Dementia Researcher The Blogs':
https://podfollow.com/dementia-researcher-blogs