Sir Jackie Stewart announces £4.2m funding to help researchers find cure for dementia

Formula 1 fable Sir Jackie Stewart started the foundation Race Against Dementia (RAD) aft his woman Lady Helen Stewart's frontotemporal dementia diagnosis 10 years ago

Sir Jackie Stewart has announced £4.2 cardinal worthy of backing to assistance the UK’s champion researchers find a cure for dementia.

Race Against Dementia (RAD) which was founded by Sir Jackie has provided grants totalling £4.2 cardinal to six probe teams crossed the country, on with Rosetrees Trust UK charity. The racing fable started the foundation Race Against Dementia (RAD) aft his woman Lady Helen Stewart’s frontotemporal dementia diagnosis 10 years ago.

The three-time Formula 1 world champion has said his wife, present 83, has nary short-term representation and has described the effect connected families arsenic “horrendous”. He said previously: “I cognize first-hand the devastation that dementia brings to full families erstwhile they realise determination is presently nary cure.”

The foundation helium founded said this week; “We’re thrilled to denote our £4.2 cardinal backing programme, designed to substance the contention against 1 of the world’s astir devastating conditions. In concern with Rosetrees Trust we person awarded grants of up to £750,000 to six exceptional probe teams from crossed the UK.

“These teams volition accelerate the hunt for preventions and cures for dementia, focusing connected caller ideas and disruptive approaches. We amended our archetypal program to money 5 teams owed to the overwhelming prime of applications we received. Through the generous enactment of our partners, we person present funded an other team.”

Dementia impacts memory, reasoning and behaviour and includes Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia and Lewy assemblage dementia. More than 55 cardinal radical worldwide person dementia and determination are astir 10 cardinal caller cases each year.

Sir Jackie, 85, said: “Formula 1 teams are relentless successful their thrust to succeed. We judge this mindset tin beryllium applied to dementia research. I’m hopeful that these caller teams volition velocity up advancement and get results.”

Each probe squad volition absorption connected antithetic types of dementia, including vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. One of the projects volition research the nexus betwixt aerial contamination and Alzheimer’s disease. The survey aims to uncover however tiny particles successful the aerial could pb to encephalon compartment harm and dementia.

Another task volition research the imaginable of focused ultrasound technology, a non-invasive method already utilized successful treating Parkinson’s tremors successful the US. This method could clasp the cardinal to treating Lewy assemblage dementia and Parkinson’s illness dementia, which unneurotic relationship for implicit 15 per cent of dementia cases.

The Rosetrees charity, which has supported cutting borderline aesculapian probe for much than 30 years, spearheaded the enactment process. Richard Ross, president of Rosetrees, said: “Sir Jackie Stewart has championed Formula 1 racing, and Rosetrees has championed superb caller aesculapian probe ideas.

“Together, we’re applying ‘outside of the box’ reasoning to lick hard problems, making this a dynamic concern successful the contention to find life-changing breakthroughs.” Formula 1 is utilizing its planetary level to assistance rise consciousness for RAD and accelerate breakthroughs successful treatments and cures for dementia.

The foundation presently supports aboriginal vocation researchers successful the UK, Australia, the US, Europe and South Africa. In an interrogation past year, Sir Jackie admitted helium is forgetting people’s names and fears helium whitethorn beryllium diagnosed with dementia.

He suffered a changeable successful June 2023 successful the Middle East and said helium is not arsenic crisp arsenic helium utilized to be. The Scot collapsed successful his edifice country the nighttime earlier helium was owed to beryllium a impermanent astatine the wedding of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein successful Amman.

He said: “You know, I could easy person it. I’ve got each the makings of it. I’m forgetting people’s names occasionally and I’m not arsenic crisp arsenic I was. If I person it, I person it. I’m inactive afloat operational. But I astir apt volition get it.”