Blog: The Brain Dialogues, filtered by tag: COSMIC

Understanding the universal and local risk factors for cognitive decline is what drives Dr Darren Lipnicki, Study Coordinator of CHeBA’s COSMIC consortium. COSMIC brings together researchers and data from studies on ageing across more than 30 countries, to identify risk and protective factors associated with cognitive decline and dementia and compare these around the world. Dr Lipnicki hopes that through this research CHeBA is able to identify modifiable lifestyle factors to assist individuals maintain their cognitive health as they age.   How did you get into researching the ageing brain… Read More

CHeBA is concerned with the big picture; achieving successful healthy ageing for all. The Centre’s international collaborative efforts present an opportunity for researchers to investigate these interests on a global scale which has exciting implications. For Dr Suraj Samtani, this brings him one step closer to understanding the implications of social interaction as a protective factor against dementia and cognitive decline.   How did you get into researching the ageing brain? I have always wanted to have a direct positive impact on people’s lives. This interest led me to complete a… Read More

Cross-cultural differences, particularly in regard to older persons and their care, has produced diverse effects for dementia patients. Dr Ben Lam’s career experience abroad, particularly in Hong Kong, highlighted that cultures in which familial care of the elderly is the norm may have a positive effect on their social relationships and by extension their cognitive health. Working at CHeBA has given Dr Lam the opportunity to work alongside dementia clinicians and gain further insight into the day-to-day experience of patients affected by neurodegenerative disease.   How did you get into… Read More

HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au CHeBA’s focus on global research priorities, as well as its multi-disciplinary approach across prevention, epidemiology, internet-based intervention and neuropsychiatry, is what inspired Dr Louise Mewton to join CHeBA. Dr Mewton is a UNSW Scientia Fellow with a research focus on the application of innovative methods, techniques and technologies to understand and prevent problematic alcohol use across the lifespan. “I’m currently using large-scale harmonised data from CHeBA’s COSMIC studies to investigate trajectories of alcohol use in older adults… Read More

DARREN LIPNICKI The Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) is a collaborative effort of researchers from around the world. We identify important topics for research, and share data from longitudinal, population-based studies of cognitive ageing to create a better understanding of what causes dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. Our current project is investigating whether there are differences between countries in how fast cognitive functioning declines in older individuals. Such differences could help explain why the prevalence of dementia varies around the… Read More

KATE CROSBIE and HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au Understanding the universal and local risk factors for cognitive decline is what drives Dr Darren Lipnicki, Study Coordinator of the Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) at CHeBA. “It will be very interesting to see the extent to which different ways in which people live, eat and behave influence their current and future cognitive status,” said Dr Lipnicki.  COSMIC compares research findings from around the world to identify risk and protective factors associated with cognitive decline and dementia. These… Read More

PROFESSOR PERMINDER SACHDEV This article was first published in InformAge, Volume 2, Issue IV December 2015 (Summer). Dementia is a global problem, and there is a worldwide effort to identify risk and protective factors, determine early biomarkers, and develop novel treatments for dementia. A survey of the international research scene reveals that many groups are working in relative isolation on projects that are similar to research conducted elsewhere. Very often, the individual projects are not large enough to provide conclusive answers to complex research questions. A recent… Read More