The LonDownS Consortium

Led by Dr Andre Strydom, our work examines the link between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. Adults with DS are at greater risk of developing AD than the general population and onset tends to occur at an earlier age.

One of the reasons for this is believed to be the fact that one of the key genes implicated in Alzheimer’s – the amyloid beta (A4) precursor protein, or APP gene – is found on chromosome 21. This gene is overexpressed in individuals with Down syndrome, who carry three copies of this chromosome.

Although all individuals with Down syndrome develop plaques and tangles typical of the brains of individuals with AD in the general population, only 50% of them go on to display the clinical symptoms.

The project aims to explore the cognitive, genetic and cellular factors underlying these individual differences in both our participants and through the use of mouse models.

The Consortium is a large multidisciplinary team of clinicians, geneticists, developmental psychologists, mouse geneticists, psychiatrists and cellular scientists and we work closely with participant and carer representatives and statisticians. We are based in Charles Bell House in the Division of Psychiatry. If you’re interested in finding out more, please e-mail us at down syndrome@ucl.ac.uk.

We are now recruiting adults and children of all ages with Down syndrome. For more information, please contact t.al-janabi@ucl.ac.uk