Big Question 1: How Can Technology Address Neurodegeneration, Psychological Well-Being, and the Ageing Crisis in Society?

Modern medicine has made it possible for people to live longer than ever before. But as populations age, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease are becoming more common, putting serious pressure on communities worldwide. How do we protect the ageing brain? Join the Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at King's College London, Professor Dag Aarsland, as he shares advancements in technology that are transforming how we detect, treat, and prevent memory loss and cognitive decline. 

Who should attend?

This event is open to all staff and students in the Institute of Psychiatry, Pscychology and Neuroscience. (IoPPN)

What will you learn?

This talk will focus on:

• How technological advancements, like blood-based biomarkers and innovative ultralow-field MRI neuroimaging techniques, are transforming early detection of Alzheimer's disease
• How pharmacological approaches, e.g. anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies, can slow down the disease progression
• Why multidomain lifestyle interventions are an effective preventive strategy… and more!

Full Abstract:

Population ageng is driving a rapid increase in neurodegenerative disorders, creating urgent challenges for healthcare systems and societies. Advances in technology are transforming both the detection and management of these conditions. In diagnostics, blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, including plasma Aβ and phosphorylated tau, are enabling scalable, minimally invasive screening and earlier detection across clinical and research settings. Emerging neuroimaging innovations, such as ultralow-field MRI, promise more accessible and portable brain imaging, potentially extending diagnostic capabilities beyond specialized centers.

Therapeutically, disease-modifying treatments have entered a new era with the approval of anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies, offering modest but meaningful slowing of cognitive decline in early Alzheimer’s disease. However, pharmacological approaches alone are insufficient. Multi-domain lifestyle interventions, exemplified by the FINGER study, demonstrate that targeting vascular, metabolic, cognitive, and social risk factors can preserve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk.

This presentation will explore how integrating technological innovation with preventive strategies can reshape the trajectory of neurodegeneration. It will highlight the opportunities—and limitations—of current approaches, emphasizing the need for scalable, equitable solutions that address both biological disease mechanisms and psychological well-being. Harnessing these advances may be key to mitigating the growing societal burden of aging-related cognitive decline.

About the speaker

As Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Aging at King’s College London, Professor Dag Aarsland’s research focuses on ageing neuropsychiatry and neurodegenerative disorders. Throughout his career he has led multinational studies on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. He has served as consultant and as Head of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Academic coordinator of the IHI projects RADAR-AD and PREDICTOM consortium, which develop AI-driven early detection tools for Alzheimer’s disease.

A Fellow of European Society of Preventive Medicine, he has held professorships at Karolinska Institutet, the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen and University of Stavanger. With over 600 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals such as Lancet Neurology, Brain, and Alzheimer’s & Dementia, his research has shaped clinical guidelines and biomarker development and diagnostics and treatment and prevention of dementia.

About the Big Questions in Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience series: 

Big Questions in Psychology, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, brought to you by the IoPPN Distance Learning Programme, is a lecture series bringing leading academics, big thinkers, and students to tackle the most exciting, urgent, and unresolved questions in the field.

The Big Questions Working Group:
Agata Sakowicz, Ceren Cingi, Eugene Hawkin, Eugenie Huibonhoa, Gabrielle Serena, Isha Ravichandran