This year's AD/PD Conference was held in Vienna, Austria from the 1st to 5th April. In this first of a two-part special we bring you highlights from the first three days of the conference.

The AD/PD Conference focuses on basic science and translational and clinical research bringing New insights on disease mechanisms and etiologies, the latest findings from clinical trials, innovative outlooks on therapy and prevention and advances in diagnostic markers.

In this special on-location recording our guest host Dr Amanda Heslegrave from UK Dementia Research Institute at University College London talks with Dr Loukia Katsouri from the UCL Gatsby Foundation, Dr Anna Mallach from the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London and Dr Imogen Swift, Research Scientist at Vesper Bio.

Here are just a few highlights from the discussion:

• Can AI spot cognitive decline in mice before humans can? Discover how machine learning is transforming mouse model analysis to predict impairment – and the surprising gender and breeding effects researchers uncovered.
• Drug repurposing breakthroughs: affordable hope on the horizon? Find out why microglial activity, mitochondrial senescence, and asthma meds could be the future of dementia drug discovery – without starting from scratch.
• Parkinson’s redefined – biologically, not clinically. A bold proposal to ditch clinical diagnosis in Parkinson’s research in favour of biomarker-based subtyping. Could it revolutionise how trials are run?
• Astrocytes take centre stage – and they might be phagocytosing synapses. New data shows waves of astroglial activity and potential astro-microglial crosstalk in Parkinson’s disease – with serious implications for how we model disease.
• Could a finger prick diagnose dementia? From dried blood spot kits to large-scale remote testing, hear how researchers are racing to make brain biomarker screening as simple as a home test.

A transcript of this show, links and show notes and profile on all our guests are available on our website at https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk.

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We gratefully acknowledge the support of our funders: Alzheimer’s Association, Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

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