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.
Series closer, and the relay comes full circle: Carla Abdelnour, who hosted episode one, returns as the guest. Carla is a clinician scientist in Barcelona and incoming Chair of the ISTAART Clinical Trials Advancement and Methods PIA, working on mixed neurodegenerative disease, particularly Lewy body and Alzheimer's pathology together. With host Sindhuja Tirumalai Govindarajan she explains why co-pathology is so common and what it means for treatment: does someone with both alpha-synuclein and Alzheimer's pathology respond to an anti-amyloid drug the same way as someone without? They discuss why she leans on fluid biomarkers, the wish for a synuclein PET tracer, and how trials might stratify or include people by co-pathology. Carla makes a useful point for anyone designing research, that clinical trial methods translate straight to observational studies, and previews the CTAM PIA's AAIC programme, including a panel and featured session on global representation in trials.
Takeaways
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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/
--
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.
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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.
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(gentle upbeat music)
Speaker:- [Narrator] Hello, and
welcome to season seven
Speaker:of the Dementia Researcher
"ISTAART Relay" podcast.
Speaker:In this series,
Speaker:members of the ISTAART's
professional interest areas
Speaker:interview each other about their PIAs
Speaker:and the hot topics in their fields.
Speaker:Each guest then becomes
the next episode's host,
Speaker:passing the conversation along
Speaker:from one researcher to the next.
Speaker:We are releasing one
episode a day in the run up
Speaker:to the Alzheimer's Association
International Conference,
Speaker:this year in London and online,
Speaker:showcasing the work of the ISTAART PIAs.
Speaker:Thank you for listening.
Speaker:(gentle guitar music)
Speaker:- Hello and thanks for tuning in.
Speaker:I'm Sindhuja Tirumalai Govindarajan.
Speaker:I'm an Alzheimer's
Association research fellow
Speaker:and postdoctoral researcher
Speaker:at the University of Pennsylvania.
Speaker:And over the summer, I'll be
transitioning into a new role
Speaker:as an assistant professor
at the Karolinska Institute.
Speaker:I also serve as the outgoing chair
Speaker:on the Professional Interest Area
Speaker:for Elevating Early Career Researchers,
Speaker:it's shortened as PEERs PIA
and this is within the ISTAART.
Speaker:Today, I'm delighted to be
talking with Dr. Carla Abdelnour
Speaker:from the Clinical Trials
Advancement and Methods PIA.
Speaker:Hi, Carla, welcome to the show.
Speaker:- Hi, Sindhuja.
Speaker:- To kick things off,
Speaker:could you introduce
yourself to our listeners
Speaker:and tell us a little bit
Speaker:about your current work
and research focus?
Speaker:- Of course.
Speaker:My name is Carla Abdelnour,
I'm a clinician scientist,
Speaker:and I work in Barcelona, Spain
Speaker:at the Hospital de la
Santa Creu i Sant Pau
Speaker:in the neurology department
in the memory unit.
Speaker:My work focuses
Speaker:on studying mixed neurodegenerative
diseases of ageing,
Speaker:particularly Lewy body disease
Speaker:with Alzheimer disease mixed pathology.
Speaker:And what I want to do with my research
Speaker:is to try to understand how
these proteinopathies interact
Speaker:to develop better tools for diagnosis
Speaker:and also for treatments of our patients.
Speaker:- That's great.
Speaker:That's such a massive space
Speaker:at the intersection of two
very important questions.
Speaker:How did you first get involved
in this area of research?
Speaker:- Well, that's a great question, Sindhuja.
Speaker:I started working on this
approximately 10 years ago
Speaker:when I started my PhD.
Speaker:And I developed my PhD on
dementia with Lewy bodies
Speaker:with Alzheimer's disease mixed pathology.
Speaker:This I was studying in dementia
with Lewy body patients
Speaker:that have Alzheimer
disease profiles at CSF.
Speaker:So, I studied different aspects
of this mixed pathology,
Speaker:in particular, how this
patient progress over time
Speaker:because they had faster progression,
Speaker:that's our studies have shown also.
Speaker:We studied how that,
Speaker:the presence of ID capacity in DLP
Speaker:influenced the clinical
presentation and atrophy patterns.
Speaker:And all of that work was
done in collaboration
Speaker:with the European Dementia
with Lewy body consortium,
Speaker:which I'm very grateful
for their help with my PhD.
Speaker:Then I moved to the US to do
my postdoctoral fellowship
Speaker:with Professor Kathleen
Poston at Stanford University.
Speaker:And there, I was able to include
Speaker:Parkinson's disease patients
with cognitive impairment
Speaker:that also have Alzheimer's
disease biomarkers,
Speaker:so, then I will have the full
Lewy body disease spectrum
Speaker:to study and understand the differences
Speaker:and how the presence AD pathology
influence their cognition,
Speaker:their disease progression in general,
Speaker:function, global cognition, et cetera.
Speaker:And also, try to study novel biomarkers,
Speaker:in this case, plasma markers
Speaker:and how to interpret them
Speaker:in this setting of mixed pathologies.
Speaker:So, it has been great,
Speaker:working on this field for all 10 years now
Speaker:'cause I have been seeing the explosion
Speaker:and this awareness of the
presence of co-pathologies now
Speaker:which is great, I'm excited to see
Speaker:how many people now is
interested in this field.
Speaker:And, yeah, so I started
working on my PhD on this.
Speaker:It was a great opportunity,
Speaker:at that time I was working
at the, at Fundacio Ace
Speaker:as a neurologist, and
I got the opportunity
Speaker:to join the European Dementia
with Lewy body consortium
Speaker:and work on our dementia
with Lewy body cohort,
Speaker:so that's how I dive into this field.
Speaker:I have to be honest with you,
Speaker:when I finished my
residency as a neurologist,
Speaker:I was interested in stroke
and also movement disorders.
Speaker:But, then I got in memory unit
Speaker:and I fell in love with our patients
Speaker:that have cognitive impairment
because it's so interesting.
Speaker:Our memory, our behaviour,
that's what make us human.
Speaker:And since I started neurology,
Speaker:what I wanted to do is
understand our brain
Speaker:and how the brain works.
Speaker:So, understanding behaviour and cognition
Speaker:is a great way to do that.
Speaker:So, when I got the opportunity
Speaker:to work on dementia with Lewy
bodies, it was my pure luck,
Speaker:but I was super lucky
Speaker:because I was able to combine my passion
Speaker:about movement disorder,
so Parkinson's disease,
Speaker:but also cognition.
Speaker:And I always have thought about that,
Speaker:with sometimes we make these
difference fields more,
Speaker:a little bit arbitrary, right?
Speaker:At the end there are all
neuro reactive diseases,
Speaker:the patients are very similar.
Speaker:It's just sometimes because of how the,
Speaker:these diseases have been
described that we separate them,
Speaker:but they're more similar than we think
Speaker:and patients are very
iterative in general.
Speaker:So, I'm very happy to be kind
of in both fields because we,
Speaker:that way it gives me the
opportunity to learn from one field
Speaker:and move the information to the other,
Speaker:so have a different perspective, I guess.
Speaker:- I think we're kindred spirits in that.
Speaker:I did my PhD with a different
field of neurodegeneration
Speaker:and moved to the field of ageing.
Speaker:I worked on multiple sclerosis before
Speaker:and there are a lot of commonalities
Speaker:in terms of how the brain is affected.
Speaker:And I could see like
the spark in your face
Speaker:when you're talking about
how complex the brain is.
Speaker:I agree with you that a
lot of the presentations
Speaker:perhaps even are similar
Speaker:across a diverse spectrum of diseases.
Speaker:But exactly how we study them
is quite different, right?
Speaker:So, for example, I'm
representing the PEERs PIA today,
Speaker:but my area of research is
neuroimaging, mainly MRI focused.
Speaker:And so, we're looking at how
the path mechanisms manifest,
Speaker:how can we study them in vivo,
Speaker:you know, before sometimes when
cognitive impairment present
Speaker:sometimes during the
process along the continuum.
Speaker:In terms of your specific research areas,
Speaker:am I right in understanding
Speaker:that you're focusing more
on the plasma markers
Speaker:and as such the biofluid
markers and cognition?
Speaker:Can you tell us about the methodologies
Speaker:you use for your research?
Speaker:- Yes, of course, definitely. Yes.
Speaker:So, I have been analysing
biofluid biomarkers, mainly CSF.
Speaker:More recently I also have
been study plasma markers.
Speaker:And at the beginning
of my PhD I also will,
Speaker:or during my PhD I also study MRI
Speaker:for studying the atrophy patterns.
Speaker:But, I think what my goal is,
Speaker:is to work more on fluid biomarkers
Speaker:because it's the best metrics, I guess,
Speaker:to understand different dignopathies
Speaker:and different processes,
Speaker:so, that's why I'm very excited
Speaker:that we are now able to
identify alpha-synuclein at CSF.
Speaker:I remember doing my PhD when
we were not able to do that,
Speaker:that is fairly recent,
Speaker:and reading on the papers
at the end that said like,
Speaker:well, what we need is alpha syn biomarker
Speaker:and now we have it.
Speaker:And that has changed our understanding
Speaker:of these diseases also,
Speaker:and the awareness as I mentioned before,
Speaker:about the frequency of mixed pathologies
Speaker:and all the implications
Speaker:that that will have for our patients
Speaker:and the treatments that
we decide for them.
Speaker:So, yeah, I think I am
more inclined or, I guess,
Speaker:I guess I biassed to fluid markers
Speaker:because we can identify different proteins
Speaker:that reflect the proteinopathies
Speaker:but also the pathophysiological processes
Speaker:that might indicate this
is progression or even,
Speaker:I think I'm interested in
trying to find biomarkers
Speaker:for monitoring patients,
Speaker:or to see if we're able
to identify markers,
Speaker:for example, for responses to treatment
Speaker:or for better for prognosis or prediction.
Speaker:And I guess biofluid markers
are very good for that.
Speaker:But I'm happy to incorporate
other markers too
Speaker:from, you know, imaging,
Speaker:particularly I will be super happy
Speaker:when we have a PET profile
Synuclein that will be great
Speaker:to see alpha-synuclein clinging the brain.
Speaker:I think that will be super exciting.
Speaker:- That's great.
Speaker:One cannot argue with the specificity
Speaker:that comes from biofluid markers
Speaker:and how complimentary they interact
Speaker:with other biomarkers as
well, it's great to hear.
Speaker:So, in your opinion,
Speaker:do you think the more recent advancements
Speaker:or discoveries that
you're so excited about
Speaker:are adequately incorporated
in clinical trials?
Speaker:Like what would you want
Speaker:if you had a magic genie or a magic wand,
Speaker:what wish would you want to
incorporate in clinical trials
Speaker:to fix a current problem?
Speaker:- I think that's a great question.
Speaker:I think one of the things
that I'm very excited about
Speaker:is to incorporate the identification
Speaker:of different proteinopathies
in clinical trials.
Speaker:Even for inclusion or exclusion
or for stratification,
Speaker:I think maybe we can start
with a stratification.
Speaker:And that is because there is this question
Speaker:about what happens with a
patient with Alzheimer disease,
Speaker:for example, receive a
treatment for amyloid or tau
Speaker:but also have alpha-synuclein,
does that person respond
Speaker:similar to a person that
doesn't have alpha-synuclein,
Speaker:or labri by this, right?
Speaker:So, I think this is a fair question
Speaker:and I definitely would love
to see more clinical trials
Speaker:trying to answer that question
Speaker:as a secondary outcome
or exploratory outcome.
Speaker:I understand the difficulties though
Speaker:because, right now, the alpha-synuclein
Speaker:is available only in CSF,
Speaker:not all clinical trials have
as an inclusion criteria,
Speaker:CSF is specifically, sometimes
only you can have the PET,
Speaker:the amyloid or tau inclusion criteria.
Speaker:And not all clinical trials in Alzheimer's
Speaker:does either require biomarker
confirmation actually,
Speaker:so, that's another thing.
Speaker:But yeah, I think I
understand that it's not easy,
Speaker:but even if in a sub group of patient
Speaker:the clinical trials could answer that.
Speaker:And I must say
Speaker:that there are some great
setting clinical trials
Speaker:happening on that space.
Speaker:'Cause there are at least
two that I'm aware of
Speaker:that are going to investigate
antiamyloid treatments
Speaker:in patients that have
alpha-synuclein positivities
Speaker:of level one disease.
Speaker:And so I'm very excited about that
Speaker:'cause it's the first time
Speaker:that we're going to use a treatment
Speaker:that has been developed for this field
Speaker:of Alzheimer's one disease
Speaker:and we're going to treat
a different population
Speaker:that comes from the movement disorder,
Speaker:also the Parkinson disease
with cognitive impairment
Speaker:or dementia vulnerabilities.
Speaker:And, so for me that means that
these fields are converging,
Speaker:which is super good
Speaker:'cause I think that cross collaboration
Speaker:is going to teach us a lot of these.
Speaker:And I think that's the best
way also to help our patients
Speaker:'cause at the end what we want
is treatment for our patients
Speaker:and we're going to meet
different resources
Speaker:for different patients,
Speaker:and for personalised
medicine we need that detail.
Speaker:We need that level of detail
Speaker:of how many proteinopathies patient has
Speaker:in order to respond to the treatment.
Speaker:- That's great.
Speaker:Your excitement for the research topic
Speaker:and for the future horizon is very obvious
Speaker:from the way you can talk about this.
Speaker:(upbeat music)
Speaker:That's been really
helpful to set the stage
Speaker:for what I want to talk about next,
Speaker:which is the work of your PIA
Speaker:with the clinical trials
and advancements PIA,
Speaker:can I call it the CTAM PIA?
Speaker:- Yes.
- Okay, great.
Speaker:So, clearly it's a massive
interdisciplinary effort
Speaker:with converging disease spectrums,
Speaker:with converging proteinopathies,
diverging as well,
Speaker:which is what makes it very fascinating.
Speaker:So, how does your PIA organise itself
Speaker:with the different experts from
statisticians to clinicians?
Speaker:How are you organising,
Speaker:how do you bring this work
together within the PIA?
Speaker:- Well, I think that's
a very good question.
Speaker:In our PIA we have
collaborative environment
Speaker:and we're very open to any topic or idea
Speaker:that somebody might have.
Speaker:And we always try to encourage people
Speaker:and help them and support them
in moving those ideas forward
Speaker:because usually they are within
the objectives of the PIA.
Speaker:What our PIA wants to do is we
want to develop better tools
Speaker:for synuclein clinical trials.
Speaker:And also we have a second objective
Speaker:that has to do with
the education of people
Speaker:about the design of clinical trials.
Speaker:So, yeah, you're right, we're
very interdisciplinary PIA
Speaker:and I think that's a strength
Speaker:because we can learn from
different perspective,
Speaker:and, yeah, so any idea that people have
Speaker:and any of the members,
Speaker:I invite them to collaborate,
Speaker:if you have any idea
Speaker:about something that you want to develop
Speaker:either a webinar or a
different activity or a paper,
Speaker:just reach out to us
Speaker:where we will support you with your idea
Speaker:and probably put you
in contact with people
Speaker:that will help you.
Speaker:- We will come back
Speaker:to how people can get
involved in a second,
Speaker:but just to take a step back,
Speaker:I'd like to highlight a little bit more
Speaker:what were the objectives
of the CTAM PIA in general?
Speaker:I think you mentioned it already,
Speaker:but maybe we need a specific segment of it
Speaker:so the audience can know better.
Speaker:- Yes. So, our PIA is on
clinical trials and methods.
Speaker:And the methods part is,
Speaker:I think, one of the very interesting ones
Speaker:because what we want to do
Speaker:is try to develop novel
methods or identify methods
Speaker:for the clinical trials
Speaker:for Alzheimer's disease
and related disorders.
Speaker:And the second objective is
to educate people about the,
Speaker:how to conduct clinical trials?
Speaker:What are the best methodologies
Speaker:that you have an idea
for a clinical trial?
Speaker:Which I found fascinating and,
Speaker:there have been a lot of
webinars and different activities
Speaker:that the PIA has developed over the years
Speaker:to support people in this regard.
Speaker:Info transfer are very difficult to,
Speaker:to manage and to perform.
Speaker:But I think with the right
support that can be done.
Speaker:So, again, if people are
interested in lome one,
Speaker:just reach out to us.
Speaker:- Did you get involved with the CTAM PIA?
Speaker:What brought you here?
Speaker:- Yes, I love that question.
So, I got involved in: Speaker:It was during the pandemic.
Speaker:I remember when I received
it, that email of invite us,
Speaker:and I thought, oh my god,
that's such a great opportunity
Speaker:because during the pandemic
Speaker:I was working in Fundacio
Ace as neurologist
Speaker:and I was heavily involved
in the clinical trial unit.
Speaker:I was actually the deputy head
of the clinical trial unit
Speaker:and I was coordinating
several clinical trials
Speaker:and more than 100 participants
in clinical trial.
Speaker:And during the pandemic what happened was
Speaker:that we had that question, oh my god,
Speaker:how are we going to cover clinical trials
Speaker:in this situation, right?
Speaker:All these protocols of these visits,
Speaker:what are we going to do?
Speaker:We have to adapt super
quickly to all of that.
Speaker:So, I thought that that
will be a great opportunity
Speaker:to reach out to people from
different parts of the world
Speaker:and understand how they were
going to manage that situation.
Speaker:It was a great opportunity in that regard.
Speaker:I learned a lot from my
colleagues around the world
Speaker:or how they were managing that.
Speaker:Where after that it was
a great opportunity also
Speaker:for networking.
Speaker:I have been always
interested in clinical trials
Speaker:because I'm a clinician,
Speaker:and I want also been able
to develop better treatments
Speaker:for my patients,
Speaker:and clinical trials are the
best way to do that, right?
Speaker:It helps me also being up
to date on the treatments
Speaker:that are being developed in the pipelines
Speaker:of the different neuroactive diseases.
Speaker:So, yeah, I think clinical
trials are very helpful,
Speaker:and as a researcher, it
also has taught me about
Speaker:what is the best way to develop a protocol
Speaker:for a research.
Speaker:So, if you are a researcher
doing an observational study
Speaker:or you have an idea of
an observational study,
Speaker:learn about clinical trials
Speaker:because that will be a great foundation,
Speaker:that is the gold standard, I would say,
Speaker:for developing protocol for any research.
Speaker:It's the highest level
of scientific evidence,
Speaker:so learning about clinical trials
Speaker:is actually very helpful for your career.
Speaker:So then, that was what
brought me to the CTMP
Speaker:and has been an amazing journey.
Speaker:- That's great, that's such
a great way to introduce
Speaker:and highlight the
contributions of the PIA.
Speaker:Could you tell me a little bit
Speaker:about how it's organised
in terms of roles,
Speaker:the structure within the PIA
Speaker:and how new members can
potentially participate?
Speaker:- Yes, of course.
Speaker:So, we're in the process
Speaker:of updating our executive committee,
Speaker:and currently the vice chair, Rema Raman,
Speaker:is the chair of our PIA,
Speaker:she's been an amazing work
during the last two years
Speaker:and I'm very grateful for her leadership.
Speaker:And this year I will even
a new chair of the PIA
Speaker:and we are waiting for the elections
Speaker:'cause we have elections just recently
Speaker:and we will have our new EC team,
Speaker:which I'm, I'm looking
forward to meet them
Speaker:either in person or virtually,
Speaker:we'll have a virtual coffee if needed.
Speaker:So, yeah, we're in the process
of building the new EC,
Speaker:but we have had an amazing EC this year
Speaker:and the the past period and
we have three working groups.
Speaker:And so, we have a working
group on Lewy body trials
Speaker:that I work on in collaboration
Speaker:with the Lewy body dementia PIA.
Speaker:We also have another working group
Speaker:on diverse representation across the flow
Speaker:and we have another one
about remote assessments
Speaker:in clinical trials.
Speaker:So, we have several working groups
Speaker:and if people want to be involved
Speaker:in any of these working
groups of have other ideas,
Speaker:please reach out,
Speaker:and I'll be happy to talk
with you about your ideas
Speaker:and how to get involved more actively.
Speaker:- Thank you, yeah,
Speaker:I'm aware of some of the
programming you offer
Speaker:because I think our PIAs
Speaker:have been collaborating for
webinars or information sessions
Speaker:even before I was part of it.
Speaker:In terms of programming that's
related to the upcoming AIC,
Speaker:what kind of sessions do you offer,
Speaker:scientific, career development?
Speaker:Could you share a little bit
Speaker:about what new members or
interested parties can attend
Speaker:or look out for at AIC?
Speaker:- Yes. So during AIC, I encourage
people to come to the PRA.
Speaker:There is going to be
an amazing discussion,
Speaker:a panel discussion on
global representation
Speaker:in clinical trials.
Speaker:This is something that we
have been discussing a lot
Speaker:during the past three years.
Speaker:Rema and Jorge Libre,
Rema Raman and Jorge Libre
Speaker:are leading that effort
with the working group
Speaker:and that is going to
be a launch at the AIC.
Speaker:And, so, please come to our PIA deck.
Speaker:I think it's going to be
an amazing discussion.
Speaker:And, in addition to that,
Speaker:we have an FRS on the similar
topic on representation
Speaker:that is led also by Rema.
Speaker:I don't recall the exact details,
Speaker:but, just reach out
Speaker:'cause I haven't checked the
programme in detail just yet,
Speaker:but, we're going to have
an FRS on clinical trials
Speaker:from the CTAM PIA.
Speaker:And I'll be in London,
Speaker:so, if you have questions
Speaker:about how to get involved more actively,
Speaker:we're always asking for
members input or ideas.
Speaker:We, I think we're very open PIA,
Speaker:and one of the things that
we want to do for next year,
Speaker:in addition to continue the
work from the previous EC
Speaker:is to continue the
increase of the engagement
Speaker:of the members,
Speaker:in particularly, the early career members
Speaker:that might be interested
Speaker:in clinical trail design or methods.
Speaker:So, yeah, reach out to
me, I'll be happy to,
Speaker:to give you my contact
then we have, can have
Speaker:more personal discussion about your ideas
Speaker:or how to get involved.
Speaker:- Great.
Speaker:I particularly like your mention
of early career researchers
Speaker:because that's the objective
of my PIA, which is PEERs PIA,
Speaker:that I represent.
Speaker:In terms of easier involvement,
Speaker:you also have an EC position
Speaker:for early career researchers, right?
Speaker:- Yes, that's correct.
- Can you-
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- Although the elections
are done for this year,
Speaker:can you tell us a little bit
Speaker:about what kind of
activities have those ECR
Speaker:executive committee members
gotten involved in in the past?
Speaker:- Yes, in the past the is,
Speaker:there literary researchers have
been involved in helping us
Speaker:with the, in review webinar.
Speaker:And that year actually the,
Speaker:we used to do two segments of
that within one webinar talk,
Speaker:but, because we want to talk
about pharmacological trials
Speaker:and non-pharmacological trials.
Speaker:And as you can imagine,
Sindhuja, that's a lot of work.
Speaker:But people have done an amazing work.
Speaker:I remember last time it
was Erina who took on the,
Speaker:from trials I remember,
Speaker:and I'm very sorry 'cause I
don't remember the other person,
Speaker:but, I think, it was an amazing
summary of what has happened
Speaker:because clinical trials is
such a big field, right?
Speaker:There are a lot of clinical trials
Speaker:happening within one year, so.
Speaker:I think, but, I think
it's a good opportunity
Speaker:for being up to date of what is happening,
Speaker:and I think we are going
to continue to do that.
Speaker:In addition, I think also
Speaker:we might want to consider
discussing novel methodologies,
Speaker:not only focusing on the chemical trials
Speaker:from the pharm or non-pharm side,
Speaker:but also what are new methodologies
Speaker:that people are developing
Speaker:for designing clinical trials.
Speaker:- [Sindhuja] So,
Speaker:so in what ways do you
think the methodologies
Speaker:or techniques that you use
for clinical trials different
Speaker:from what's used in research studies?
Speaker:Like what are the challenges
that one might not know about
Speaker:if they've only been exposed to,
Speaker:you know, research
prospective studies like that?
Speaker:- Yes, I think that's
a very good question.
Speaker:I guess, well, the clinical trials
Speaker:since they are organising different phases
Speaker:and each phase has some main objective,
Speaker:you will identify your outcomes
Speaker:depending on the phase that your studies.
Speaker:So, for example, if you are
conducting a phase two trial
Speaker:where you want to study
safety and tolerability,
Speaker:your outcomes will have to reflect that,
Speaker:although you can incorporate
as a secondary outcomes,
Speaker:cognition function or other
aspects that your interest,
Speaker:for example, biomarker changes
Speaker:as an exploratory markers, et cetera.
Speaker:Now, when you have a project
or a research question,
Speaker:you will be designing your methods
Speaker:for answering that
specific question, right?
Speaker:You are going to design your experiment
Speaker:to answer that question
Speaker:and you will identify
what are the outcomes
Speaker:that I have to measure to
answer my research question.
Speaker:What I think might be similar
between two approaches
Speaker:is how to develop the
protocol, for example,
Speaker:you will have to identify
Speaker:what are the occlusion
and inclusion criteria
Speaker:for their subjects.
Speaker:You are going to have to identify
Speaker:all the outcome measures
and describe them.
Speaker:You have to calculate your sample size
Speaker:to know you have enough people
involved or samples or X
Speaker:to answer your research
question, which is very important
Speaker:in both clinical trials
and research studies.
Speaker:And so, I think having all
that prepared beforehand,
Speaker:before doing the actual
study is super helpful.
Speaker:So, I think the way that
clinical trails is structure
Speaker:is translatable the most part
to observational studies,
Speaker:has a similar to-do list.
Speaker:This is when you are designing
an observational study.
Speaker:- Clinical trial design is very complex
Speaker:and interdisciplinary it looks like.
Speaker:You previously mentioned
Speaker:what you would like to see
ideally in a new clinical trial
Speaker:with the incorporation of
Speaker:like a magic wish of PET alpha-synuclein.
Speaker:But, in terms of recent studies
that have shown success,
Speaker:is there a particular study
Speaker:that sounds very exciting
to you, very promising
Speaker:that you want to see more of?
Speaker:- Such a good question.
Speaker:So, do you mean research study
Speaker:or a clinical trial in particular?
Speaker:- Clinical.
- A clinical trial?
Speaker:- I mean a clinical
trial in specific, yeah.
Speaker:- Yes, yes.
Speaker:So, I went to ADPD recently in Copenhagen
Speaker:and they presented a clinical trial
Speaker:that is going to investigate total a map
Speaker:in people with Lewy body.
Speaker:So yeah, I'm very excited
about that clinical trial.
Speaker:It is a phase two trial.
Speaker:It has been done also collaboration
Speaker:with the Lewy Body
Dementia Association and,
Speaker:and that has been an
effort that has been led
Speaker:by Charles Shaw from Stanford
and Dokavaskov from UCSD.
Speaker:So, I'm very, yeah,
super happy to see that.
Speaker:'cause I just, I just, I need to know,
Speaker:I need to know if this, this,
Speaker:these treatments also
work in the population
Speaker:of data clinical phenotype
that is for samples
Speaker:Lewy body disease, but have
the percents of amagoic data.
Speaker:- Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker:(upbeat music)
Speaker:What advice would you have for
someone who is new to ISTAART
Speaker:or Alzheimer's Association in
general in this field of work?
Speaker:How do you think it has helped you
Speaker:to be involved outside of
research advancements alone?
Speaker:- Yes. I think that's a
very important question.
Speaker:I will say reach out to
members from different PIAs
Speaker:from your main interest.
Speaker:I think people is very open
to extend their experience,
Speaker:so, if you reach out to people
Speaker:and ask them about their experiences,
Speaker:if you are interested in
getting involved more actively
Speaker:in any of the activities,
just reach out to people.
Speaker:Also, you can reach out
Speaker:to the Alzheimer's Association
and the PIA directly.
Speaker:I think their leadership team is amazing.
Speaker:They, they're doing an
amazing job helping us
Speaker:to build this network of
collaborators across the world.
Speaker:So, you have any questions,
Speaker:I think that's also a great resource.
Speaker:There is a lot of information
on the PIA website
Speaker:about the different PIAs if
you want to check that also,
Speaker:because there are a lot of opportunities
Speaker:and you might have different interests,
Speaker:not only on one field,
but different fields.
Speaker:And you can definitely be a member
Speaker:of several PIAs at the same time
Speaker:and different working fields too.
Speaker:I will also say that it's
an amazing opportunity
Speaker:to meet people, to discuss ideas,
Speaker:and at the end, to move the
field forward, Sindhuja,
Speaker:because this is such a complex problem.
Speaker:We want to develop
better diagnostic tools,
Speaker:a better treatments for our patients.
Speaker:And we're not going to do that alone,
Speaker:we need a big team, a global team.
Speaker:And the Alzheimer's
Association with the PIAs
Speaker:are doing that.
Speaker:So, I'm very happy to be part of the PIA,
Speaker:and I will say that if you
interest, just reach out.
Speaker:We need more people
working on this problems,
Speaker:more ring trying to
answer these questions.
Speaker:So yes, just come onboard
and help us to end dementia.
Speaker:- Well said, we cannot do this alone,
Speaker:we have to work together on that.
Speaker:I think that is a fantastic
wrap up for the podcast so far.
Speaker:Thank you all for listening.
Speaker:This is the last show
in the season for: Speaker:ISTAART PIAs are a great
way, like Carla mentioned,
Speaker:to expand your network,
find new collaborators,
Speaker:and learn more about
Alzheimer's and dementia field
Speaker:in general.
Speaker:We hope that these podcasts
Speaker:have inspired you to get involved
Speaker:and you can find the profiles on myself
Speaker:and our wonderful guest, Carla,
Speaker:and information on how to
become involved in the ISTAART
Speaker:on our website at
dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk,
Speaker:and also at www.alz.org/istaart,
Speaker:or, for simpler terms, Google ISTAART
Speaker:and it'll take you there.
Speaker:We're looking forward to seeing
you at the AIC conference,
Speaker:so, if you haven't already registered,
Speaker:visit alz.org for more information
Speaker:and come find us and say hello.
Speaker:Thank you. Bye.
Speaker:- Thank you. Bye.
Speaker:- [Narrator] You have been
listening to the "Relay" podcast,
Speaker:delivered as a collaboration
Speaker:between Dementia researcher and ISTAART.
Speaker:This podcast is made at
University College London
Speaker:with generous funding from the
NIHR, Race Against Dementia,
Speaker:Alzheimer's Association,
Alzheimer's Research UK,
Speaker:and the Alzheimer's Society.
Speaker:Please like and subscribe
Speaker:and share your thoughts in the comments.
Speaker:(gentle upbeat music)