Experiences from the seventh International Lewy Body Dementia Conference (ILBD)
The ILBD conference was held in Newcastle upon Tyne from the 15-17 June 2022. In this blog, Jessica Katanga and Bethany Dennis, each funded by the BRC to attend, tell us about their experience at the conference.
Tell us about yourself Jessica
I am an F1, soon to be F2, on the Academic Foundation Programme. My research interests are in Dementia, specifically neuropathology. I am currently working with Prof Alan Thomas, using data from the national dementia brain bank to interrogate the link between hearing impairment and cognitive impairment
What were you looking forward to most about the conference?
It had been three years since the last conference, so everybody was excited to finally see each other in person again. There was an impressive line-up of international speakers, of various stages in their career – day one had talks centred around biomarkers, prodromal DLB and genetics and the second day talks around imaging, EEG, clinical features and therapeutics.
What were the highlights?
We kicked off with a session on biomarkers. I personally found session two very interesting with a researcher from Italy who talked about thalamocortical disruption that occurs in delirium, as identified by EEG. There was also a session on MRI biomarkers in mild cognitive impairment, using research criteria that was agreed on from the Las Vegas meeting.
The speakers in the morning ranged from UK to Australia to Japan – mostly talking about the psychiatric symptoms present in DLB. A particularly interesting session was in the fMRI networks responsible for hallucinations. A clinician also delivered a talk on the mismatch between perspectives from patient and doctor regarding which symptoms were most distressing.
It was nice to see this clinical aspect and patient prioritisation present in the midst of this academic conference. All in all, it was an amazing couple of days, and I thoroughly look forward to next year’s.
Tell us about yourself Bethany
I am currently in the fourth year of my part-time PhD at Newcastle University in the Biosciences Institute. My project’s primary aim is to understand the relationship between cognitive impairment and brain oscillations, and the association with neuroinflammation. Although my project is centred around schizophrenia research, I work within a lab that is primarily focussed on DLB research. I enjoy being part of a diverse research group, and often discover crossover between my work and theirs.
What were you looking forward to most about the conference?
As part of a growing LBD research group, I was interested in learning about both the clinical and lab based research that was currently developing in the area. As a basic scientist, I learned a great deal about all aspects of LBD but really hoped to learn more about patient pathology and the future of diagnosis and treatment.
What were your impressions of the conference?
The event was extremely well organised and an incredibly friendly and welcoming event. The balance between in person seminars and online poster sessions worked really well for encouraging attendees to interact and discuss their own research. The presence of the Lewy Body charities really personalised the meeting too.
What were the highlights?
One highlight was the Rising Star awards and presentations – the clinical and pre-clinical talks were both inspiring and really highlighted the brilliant people and ideas behind the research. Another highlight was hearing from Susan Williams, who speaks so candidly about her experiences with LBD, and reminded everyone listening why the research and collaborations present at the conference are so important to people all over the world.
The conference highlighted to me the importance of relationships and collaborations with other researchers and research groups. Going forward, I hope to expand my network and look to building relationships with potential collaborators in order to further my own research and skillset.