In episode 19 we chat with Dr Megan Eldred, Senior Policy Advisor and Dementia Mission Lead at the Office for Life Sciences.
Megan walked us through her journey from PhD and potential academia, to transition into the UK Civil Service and the work she does with the Office for Life Sciences. She told us about her journey to becoming the senior policy adviser and dementia mission lead on everything that entails.
More generally, the Mission aims to develop novel precision medicine tools that help boost the number and speed of clinical trials in dementia neurodegeneration. This is a much-needed and highly impactful endeavour. We all know somebody who is suffering from or who has suffered from dementia. It is devastating and still has massive unmet clinical needs and is a huge cost and burden to society that is a burden that is getting bigger because of an ageing population.
Megan talked about some interesting scientific and commercial developments in this field, including the approval of two drugs to slow the progression of dementia. We spoke about cures for Alzheimer's disease and how close and how far away we are. We also spoke about psychedelics, exercise, the mind-body connection and burnout.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00:00 -Intro
 
00:01:51:04 - Dr McIlroy’s neurodegenerative family history
 
00:04:01:20 - Dutch care home designed for dementia
 
00:04:43:02 - Japanese robotic seal
 
00:06:35:06 - Pet dogs and our microbiome
 
00:07:41:10 - Link between microbiome and depression
 
00:09:17:07 - Mice research
 
00:11:44:02 - Can the microbiome cure depression longterm?
 
00:13:30:01 - How habits are formed
 
00:15:22:27 - Addictions and their cure
 
00:19:15:28 - Fight or flight responses
 
00:25:41:01 - Building resilience
 
00:27:57:24 - Choosing a career path
 
00:30:36:20 - Undertaking a physiology degree
 
00:33:03:02 - Unknown unknowns
 
00:35:50:08 - The cell fate in the retina
 
00:37:55:24 - Intelligent design?
 
00:41:55:10 - Micro-dosing
 
00:49:33:11 - Understanding the retina
 
00:55:10:29 - Starting a career in the civil service
 
00:59:13:24 - Scientists working for the government
 
01:04:59:23 - Centre for Science and Policy
 
01:08:59:15 - Role as lead at Office for Life Sciences
 
01:14:46:09 - Focus on biomarkers
 
01:17:52:04 - Drugs approval for treating dimensia
 
01:20:10:10 - Understanding the disease pathway
 
01:24:51:08 - Funding research
 
01:26:44:21 - Our Future Health
 
01:34:28:01 - Sharing IP with competitors
 
01:39:45:24 - CSF testing
 
01:41:51:12 - Inflammation and the disease pathway
 
01:43:13:15 - Vaccine for cognitive disease?
 
01:46:19:27 - Conclusion