Medical Research Council (MRC) funded PhD student Vanessa Drevenakova won the award\u2019s writing category for her article: \u2018The Sound of Youth: Can Ultrasound Delay Brain Ageing?\u2019.<\/p>\n
She is looking at the potential of using ultrasound to care for the brain before decline caused by ageing and dementia sets in.<\/p>\n
With life expectancy rising, dementia is now one of the leading causes of death in the UK.<\/p>\n
Current treatments often come too late and do little to reverse the damage.<\/p>\n
As we age, our brain immune cells, known as microglia, become less effective at clearing up damaged proteins.<\/p>\n
If these proteins are left to build up, they can damage the connections between neurons, preventing the brain from working effectively.<\/p>\n
Over time, these changes can affect learning, memory, and overall cognitive function of the brain, symptoms associated with ageing and dementia.<\/p>\n
Commonly known for its use in pregnancy scans, ultrasound technology also holds enormous potential as a safe and non-invasive treatment.<\/p>\n
Focused ultrasound uses gentle sound waves that converge like sunlight through a magnifying glass, delivering mechanical signals deep into the brain.<\/p>\n
These signals can change the activity of our brain cells, offering a new non-invasive way to influence brain function without surgery or drugs.<\/p>\n
This technology is already approved in the UK for the treatment of essential tremor, Parkinson\u2019s disease, and different cancers.<\/p>\n
It is also being tested in patients with Alzheimer\u2019s in the US.<\/p>\n
In Vanessa\u2019s lab at Imperial College London, she uses focused ultrasound to stimulate microglia, the brain\u2019s immune cells, deep inside the brain.<\/p>\n
In her article she describes how the ultrasound\u2019s tiny vibrations cause small waves of pressure that work to open trapdoor-like channels on the surface of the microglia cells.<\/p>\n
This allows a rush of calcium inside which acts to wake them up and kick-start them back into action.<\/p>\n
In her own words, Vanessa writes:<\/p>\n
My research asks whether we can encourage these senescent microglia to behave more like their younger selves: active, protective, and calm.<\/p>\n
I watch how they move under the microscope, track the signals they send, and test the chemical messages they release to see if their behaviour is changing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Acting early to slow brain ageing<\/h2>\n
Currently in the pre-clinical stage, her research involves testing how microglia respond in the ageing brains of mice.<\/p>\n
Early findings suggest that ultrasound can change the behaviour of the cells to be more responsive, to clear the damage and to restore balance in the brain.<\/p>\n