Capital award for UK DRI at University of Cambridge

A £2.5 million capital equipment fund and refurbished laboratory space on two floors of the Island Research Building in Cambridge will house roughly 30 dementia researchers by May 2018. This investment addresses a critical gap: the UK lacks a dedicated, co-located national institute to coordinate and accelerate dementia research. Despite the growing burden of dementia on families and the NHS, research efforts have been fragmented across institutions. The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at Cambridge is one node of a larger national institute created to consolidate expertise, share resources, and avoid duplication. If successful, the refurbished labs and new equipment will enable three initial research programmes to launch immediately, with many more to follow. The institute aims to cement the UK’s world-leading position in dementia research by promoting innovative approaches and forging closer collaboration among existing UK research groups. This is primarily an infrastructure and capacity-building project—it does not itself test a new drug or therapy. Instead, it provides the physical and instrumental foundation for future discoveries. The ultimate goal is to help meet the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020, which seeks to accelerate progress toward treatments and better care.