Turning today’s discoveries into tomorrow’s therapies
The Macquarie University Dementia Research Centre enables cutting edge discovery research with a focus on translating findings into treatments for patients.
The Macquarie University Dementia Research Centre brings together international and national leaders in translational brain research to strengthen the University’s investment into neuroscience research.
About dementia
Dementia describes the symptoms of a large group of illnesses which cause a progressive decline in a person’s cognitive functioning. In Australia, dementia has become the leading cause of death since 2024.
In Australia:
- more than 446,500 people currently live with dementia, including 29,000 with early onset dementia (before the age of 65)
- this figure is predicted to exceed 1 million people by 2065.
For comparison, globally:
- 55–57 million people currently live with dementia
- this figure is predicted to exceed 140 million by 2050.
These numbers represent a rapidly escalating global health crisis driven by ageing populations.
While major advances in medical research have reduced deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes over the past decades, those from Alzheimer’s disease have risen, reflecting the lack of effective treatments and the increased prevalence of the disease.
The Macquarie University Dementia Research Centre was founded to overcome a major barrier in the development of effective therapies – the limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms that lead to dementia. Therefore, our discovery research program focuses on deciphering the steps that lead to dementia with the objective to translate our breakthrough discoveries into desperately needed therapies.