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Alzheimer’s disease causes people to start to forget things, and even stop recognising their friends and family. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find a way to stop this disease so I am working on ways that we can alter the immune cells in the brain (that usually help to destroy any infection, tidy up any mess and repair nerve cells) so that they can start to protect the brain more effectively.

Today was very typical, this morning I came into the office, checked my emails with a coffee and then went into the lab to develop some western blots. I had a type of protein that I wanted to look at, so I used a molecule that attaches itself specifically to this protein and also has a fluorescent tag on it. Then I used photographic film (the type used in cameras before everything was digital!) to take a picture of this protein so that I could compare any differences in amount between my samples.

Then I had lunch outside on the grass with my friends, and this afternoon I have been marking a report that a student of mine had sent to me. I have also gone to the animal house to check on my mice. These are special mice that are bred to have the same changes in their brain as humans have in Alzheimer’s disease. This means that we can test different drugs on them to see if they can help us to understand more about the disease.