Dr. Adam Dyer

Summary

Alzheimer Disease (AD) affects >60,000 individuals in Ireland and is characterised by remarkable variation in clinical presentation and disease outcomes. There is an urgent need to understand the biological determinants of this variability so personalised approaches for AD prevention and treatment can be developed. Despite strong circumstantial evidence over the past two decades that viral infections (influenza, herpesviruses, viral pneumonia) increase AD risk, definitive real-world evidence is lacking. DRIVE-AD will deploy a high-throughput, low-cost assay to determine prior exposure to 50 common viral infections " several previously implicated in AD. DRIVE-AD aims to provide the first large-scale definitive evidence linking viral exposures to AD in humans to inform potential vaccination and anti-viral treatment strategies in older adults at risk of, or living with Alzheimer Disease

Funding Agency

Meath Foundation; Dean's Research Initiative

Summary

Examines anti-viral immune responses in older nursing home residents including in vitro (PBMC stimulations in lab) and in vivo (SARS-CoV2 vaccine) responses. In addition to advancing understanding of the pathogenesis of viral infection in severely frail older adults, these insights offer to inform vaccine development/deployment strategies; biological sampling completed at baseline, 5 weeks & 6 months post-vaccine

Funding Agency

Meath Foundation

Summary

Explores the relationship of novel bioengineering (e.g spatiotemporal gait analysis) and immunology (e.g circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, peripheral blood immune cell responses to pathogenic amyloid ß-42) markers with cognitive function in midlife type 2 diabetes. Wave 1 (N = 150) completed; Wave 2 currently underway 2022-24 (ENBIND-II) seeking to examine the relationship between these markers and longitudinal cognitive trajectories in middle-aged adults with type 2 diabetes

Funding Agency

Meath Foundation

Summary

Will examine the ability of systemic inflammatory biomarkers to predict clinical progression and adverse events over 18 months in older adults with mild-moderate Alzheimer Disease. TIDE-AD will also examine the impact of systemic inflammatory events to result in persistent immune dysregulation in older adults with mild-moderate Alzheimer Disease by assessing over >1,000 individual plasma and CSF samples from older 534 older adults with subjective memory complaints, mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer Disease and mild-moderate dementia due to Alzheimer Disease

Funding Agency

Meath Foundation

Summary

Explores innate Anti-Viral immune responses in older adults living with frailty; examines how increasing frailty states are associated with alterations in innate immune responses to various agonists using whole blood immunomonitoring; recruitment based in St James's Hospital & Tallaght University Hospital

Funding Agency

TCD & TTMI Building Engagements in Health Research