mrc

Medical Research Council (MRC) Scientist Dr Adrian Owen is helping the BBC investigate whether brain training games actually improve brain performance in tonight’s episode of the Bang Goes The Theory.

Dr Owen, an expert in brain imaging and cognitive function at the MRC Unit in Cambridge, has developed a scientific brain training website to help research how the brain works.

The Cambridge Brain Sciences website allows people to test four categories of brain function: memory, reasoning, concentration and planning. Several of the tests devised by Owen and his colleagues are being used by the BBC in 'Brain Test Britain' a huge public experiment to test whether brain training really works.

Speaking about the new website Dr Owen said:

"Brain training is now a billion pound industry, yet very few rigorous scientific studies have been conducted to find out if it actually works. What we are doing in collaboration with the BBC, is to really put brain training under the microscope. We've already had hundreds of people sign up and start testing their own cognitive function. The data, which is collected anonymously, will be incredible useful for our research into the causes and effects of brain damage and disease. The technology could be applied in a number of ways to monitor the efficacy of pharmaceutical products as well as in clinical trials of patients with disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.”

The team is working with MRC Technology to develop the idea further.

To coincide with the programme, the MRC is launching a new booklet for the public, MRC research for lifelong health: the brain. The publication explains what the brain is, highlights examples of MRC research and how discoveries are being used to develop new treatments and health benefits. The booklet can be found at www.mrc.ac.uk/brain or you can order a hard copy by emailing sarah.harrop@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk.

In other brain research news, a team led by Professor Julie Williams at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University published results in Nature Genetics today of one of the largest studies into the role genes play in Alzheimer’s disease.

DNA from over 16,000 people was analysed in the two year study. It found that two genes, called CLU and PICALM can play a direct role in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Until now only one gene, APOE4, had been clearly identified as a potential risk factor. You can read more about the study results in the MRC press release: Scientists uncover new hereditary links to Alzheimer’s disease.