The Foundation has supported Alzheimer’s Research Australia (ARA) together with Spheria Asset Management since FY20, with Resolution Capital also forming a partnership with ARA in FY22. Together all three organisations have provided significant support aimed at understanding cell biology and very early-stage changes at the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, especially around gene mutation.

In FY25 funding will continue to drive research focused on developing a simple and non-invasive blood test to assess the levels of specific blood-based Alzheimer’s disease related biomarkers. This has the potential to detect the presence of the disease well before symptoms appear, and typically before treatment commences. Recent research results by ARA have provided promising validation of initial work – subsequently applied within in a broader cohort of patients – which have been accepted for publication. Funding will enable the development of specific assays (test kits) for the blood biomarker project. To date, the ARA research team has undertaken their initial work using commercially available assays. Given the success of their findings however, the team is seeking to develop unique testing kits tuned to their own requirements, which can also generate considerable savings.