Individuals over the age of 65 years represent the fastest growing segment of the general population. This rise is accompanied by an increase in dementia cases. Dementia is a major cause of dependency, increased health care costs and early death.
Identification of individuals at risk of dementia early in the course of the disease is critical. The overarching objective of this research is to characterise the changes in cognition that represent early indicators of progressive neurodegenerative brain disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia, and to define their biological correlates with the aims to improve early diagnosis, diagnosis accuracy and improve care and management of patients.
Greater diagnostic specificity across these disorders and improved discrimination from changes that reflect age-related (or “healthy”) ageing will lead to comprehensive biological-cognitive models of disease presentation and progression.
This research is achieved by using a convergence of clinical and experimental cognitive tests combined with structural and functional neuroimaging approaches.
Click here to access Dr Olivier Piguet's research papers:
Assoc Prof Olivier Piguet trained in psychology in Geneva and obtained a Master's degree in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Melbourne and a PhD at the University of Sydney. He undertook postdoctoral training at MIT before establishing his research group at Neuroscience Research Australia. He is also a clinical neuropsychologist with 18 years clinical experience, 12 of which dedicated to ageing and neurodegeneration. He has a growing international reputation in the field of cognitive changes associated with healthy and pathological brain ageing and has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles on this topic. More recently, his research has focused on the biological correlates underlying changes in emotion processing and memory in frontotemporal dementia. At NeuRA, Dr Piguet collaborates closely with Prof Hodges and Prof Halliday.
Biological basis of episodic memoryFunctional and biological correlates of associative memory |
Brain imagingPatterns of white matter changes in FTD subtypes |
Eating disturbance in FTDMarked eating disturbances (e.g., overeating) are common in a subset of patients diagnosed with FTD. |
Emotion processing in frontotemporal dementiaEmotional memory in frontotemporal dementia |
Episodic memory in FTDAssociative memory in frontotemporal dementia |
