Brain fragments used in the race to find a cure for Alzheimer’s

Is curing Alzheimer’s an impossible challenge or can we get there?

I was invited to attend brain surgery at the forefront of dementia research.

I’m wearing a surgical gown in the back of an operating room at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, a traditional Scottish hospital. The intense attention of the dozens of people in the room gives off an aura of calm, despite the noise of the medical equipment.

The patient is sedated and covered on the operating table. I can see the MRI of your brain on big screens. It is impossible not to notice the large, white, shiny mass of the tumor. The cancer started in the colon and spread deep into the brain.

“It’s not on the surface of the brain, so we need to make a hole in the cortex,” explains Paul Brennan, professor of neurosurgery, “as small as possible, but big enough so we can get to the tumor.”

The cortex is the outer layer of the brain involved in language, memory and thinking. The inner parts of the brain are softer, but the cortex needs to be cut.

Brennan uses a surgical drill to remove a portion of the skull. The exposed brain is pink, irrigated by blood and pulsates gently to the rhythm of the heart.

Next to me is Claire Durrant, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Edinburgh.

She is holding a container of ice-cold artificial cerebrospinal fluid, which mimics the liquid that bathes the brain and spinal cord.

In most brain surgeries, the removed part of the cortex is considered medical waste and would be discarded. But Edinburgh is one of the few centers in the world where it is collected, with permission, for dementia research.

When the time comes, everything happens very quickly. Professor Brennan puts a part of the brain—the size of my thumbnail—in the jar to preserve it.

A small piece of brain tissue held inside ice-cold artificial cerebrospinal fluid. | James Gallagher/BBC

So, with a quick thank you, we changed and headed across town to the university.

In the backseat of the car, it strikes me how, just a few minutes ago, this piece of brain was still part of a man’s thoughts and fears regarding the surgery he was about to face.

“I am always aware, at all times, that what we are receiving is a precious gift on what is probably the worst day of that person’s life,” says Durrant.

His lab is one of the few that works with living adult brain tissue to try to understand dementia and other diseases.

“By developing these techniques, we hope to move towards a world free of many different and horrible neurological diseases,” she says.

Around a million people in the UK suffer from some form of dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common.

But can Alzheimer’s be cured?

The brain tissue is removed from the container… | James Gallagher/BBC

…and will be placed in agar gelatin to hold it in place… | James Gallagher/BBC

…before being delicately cut into slices thinner than a human hair. | James Gallagher/BBC

The team in Durrant’s lab is trying to discover the answer by learning about the fundamental biology of Alzheimer’s disease.

There are still crucial unknowns — there is no definitive explanation for why connections between neurons, called synapses, are lost in Alzheimer’s disease.

The four scientists preparing the brain tissue in the lab work in sync, like a pit-stop team — which is fitting, given that the research is sponsored by the Race Against Dementia charity, set up by Formula 1’s Jackie Stewart.

First, the brain sample is placed in gelatin. It is then cut into slices 10 to 20 brain cells deep, before being stored in specialized incubators to keep the tissue alive.

The team then exposes the brain slices to toxic proteins called amyloid and tau, which accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. This allows them to witness the destruction of synapses and see if there is a way to stop it.

Everything Durrant has seen so far convinces her that curing Alzheimer’s is not an impossible challenge.

Claire Durrant says there is more hope than ever in Alzheimer’s disease research. | James Gallagher/BBC

“The evidence we have at the moment indicates that it is a disease and, based on previous experiences, we know that diseases can be cured. Perhaps one day we will find evidence that Alzheimer’s disease is inherent to humans, but, at the moment, I don’t see that”, he says.

“I have never seen as much hope in Alzheimer’s disease research as I do now. I am very hopeful that we will see significant changes in my lifetime.”

Two drugs called lecanemab and donanemab have brought a glimmer of hope as they slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

They were a scientific achievement, but their actual impact on patients was considered by some to be too small to be noticeable. None of them are funded by the National Health Service (NHS), the English SUS.

But Professor Tara Spires-Jones, director of the Center for Brain Science at the University of Edinburgh, believes these two drugs have “really opened the door” to curing Alzheimer’s.

Professor Tara Spires-Jones predicts there could be revolutionary developments in this field of Alzheimer’s studies | James Gallagher/BBC

She greets me from behind a giant theatrical curtain in her lab, which blocks the light so she can work on a highly sensitive confocal microscope that uses lasers to illuminate brain samples.

The professor is studying the role of star-shaped immune cells, called astrocytes, in Alzheimer’s disease.

This is part of a growing recognition that Alzheimer’s disease must be combated in multiple ways.

Lecanemab and donanemab target the toxic, sticky protein called amyloid. Clinical trials are underway with drugs that target another protein, tau.

And the importance of the immune system, inflammation, blood vessel health and the way genetics and environment combine are deepening understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.

Spires-Jones believes there will be three key moments:

In the short term, medications that significantly slow or stop the progression of the disease; tools to completely prevent dementia; and, in the long term, a way to cure those who already have symptoms — although she recognizes that this will be much more difficult.

She believes we are five to ten years away from a “truly life-changing” treatment and that we will get to the point where we can “make your life really normal” by detecting the disease early enough and then stopping it.

But, although there is optimism, research and clinical trials will still be needed to prove that it is possible to cure Alzheimer’s.

“The human brain is so phenomenally complex that we can only really observe it in people,” says Spires-Jones.

Originally published by BBC News on 12/26/2025

By James Gallagher – BBC News Health and Science Correspondent