In episode 19 we chat with Dr Megan Eldred, Senior Policy Advisor and Dementia Mission Lead at the Office for Life Sciences.
Megan walked us through her journey from PhD and potential academia, to transition into the UK Civil Service and the work she does with the Office for Life Sciences. She told us about her journey to becoming the senior policy adviser and dementia mission lead on everything that entails.
More generally, the Mission aims to develop novel precision medicine tools that help boost the number and speed of clinical trials in dementia neurodegeneration. This is a much-needed and highly impactful endeavour. We all know somebody who is suffering from or who has suffered from dementia. It is devastating and still has massive unmet clinical needs and is a huge cost and burden to society that is a burden that is getting bigger because of an ageing population.
Megan talked about some interesting scientific and commercial developments in this field, including the approval of two drugs to slow the progression of dementia. We spoke about cures for Alzheimer’s disease and how close and how far away we are. We also spoke about psychedelics, exercise, the mind-body connection and burnout.
00:00:00:00 -Intro
00:01:51:04 – Dr McIlroy’s neurodegenerative family history
00:04:01:20 – Dutch care home designed for dementia
00:04:43:02 – Japanese robotic seal
00:06:35:06 – Pet dogs and our microbiome
00:07:41:10 – Link between microbiome and depression
00:09:17:07 – Mice research
00:11:44:02 – Can the microbiome cure depression long-term?
00:13:30:01 – How habits are formed
00:15:22:27 – Addictions and their cure
00:19:15:28 – Fight or flight responses
00:25:41:01 – Building resilience
00:27:57:24 – Choosing a career path
00:30:36:20 – Undertaking a physiology degree
00:33:03:02 – Unknown unknowns
00:35:50:08 – The cell fate in the retina
00:37:55:24 – Intelligent design?
00:41:55:10 – Micro-dosing
00:49:33:11 – Understanding the retina
00:55:10:29 – Starting a career in the civil service
00:59:13:24 – Scientists working for the government
01:04:59:23 – Centre for Science and Policy
01:08:59:15 – Role as lead at Office for Life Sciences
01:14:46:09 – Focus on biomarkers
01:17:52:04 – Drugs approval for treating dimensia
01:20:10:10 – Understanding the disease pathway
01:24:51:08 – Funding research
01:26:44:21 – Our Future Health
01:34:28:01 – Sharing IP with competitors
01:39:45:24 – CSF testing
01:41:51:12 – Inflammation and the disease pathway
01:43:13:15 – Vaccine for cognitive disease?
01:46:19:27 – Conclusion
source
