Practice English-Conversation
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There are almost a million people in the UK living with dementia, and Alzheimer’s is the most common form. But did you know that the disease actually starts long before any noticeable symptoms appear? So it’s vital that we know how to detect and treat it at an early stage. My guest today has been studying the genetics of Alzheimer’s for almost three decades, and her research has transformed our understanding of the devastating disease. Julie Williams is a professor of neuropsychological genetics at Cardiff University. She grew up not far from there, in the small village of Kevin Coyd, and spent the majority of her studies and her academic career at Cardiff. But she’s worked with other world leading searchers to pull together their data and create more comprehensive studies of the genes that make us susceptible to Alzheimer’s. And with considerable success. These genetic studies are telling us an important story about a disease that’s much more complex than we thought, and which has many different components. Now she’s working with scientists from other fields like immunology and computational biology, using her genetic findings to understand just what’s going on. Julie has also served as chief scientific advisor to the Welsh government and is a strong believer in team science, collaborating and sharing research findings across international borders and disciplines. Professor Julie Williams. Welcome to the life scientific thank you very much for inviting me. So let’s set the scene, julie, could you explain in simple words, what Alzheimer’s disease is? Well, most people think of it as memory loss, but those are the symptoms that we see probably 15 or20 years after the disease has actually started. It’s about cell death. In fact, it’s about the brain dying in a very prescribed way and it’s getting more common because people are living longer with it. And it’s something we really need to understand. And we’re going to talk about the genetics later on, but very broadly, I mentioned in the introduction that we’re now discovering just how complex Alzheimer’s is, that it’s not a disease triggered by just one faulty gene, is it? No, it’s not that. There are very rare forms that usually occur in families that if you get mutations or changes in one of three genes, you can almost predict when those individuals will develop Alzheimer’s disease. But these are extremely rare in the population. Alzheimer’s that we would see in our everyday lives is different. It’s contributed to by thousands of genes and environmental factors. So it’s a much more complex picture. You grew up, julie Williams in a small village by Brecken Beacons National Park in South Wales. And I gather you had a lot of encouragement from your parents, particularly from your dad. Yeah, he was a very curious guy. He went into the family business at the age of16, and I think he wanted us to experience the world, to understand it and follow our noses so we would watch tomorrow’s world scent of man. These are things that we discussed. It was a good environment. I mean, he didn’t have a science background himself. Not at all. A curious man. Yes. And your curiosity for science and academia actually began at quite an early age, I gather. Well, I was just intrigued. I bought this pamphlet when I was probably about eight or nine, I think, and it was Faraday’s notes as copies of his notes, and it just set me in awe. This guy had produced new knowledge, and these were his jottings. I didn’t understand them. I mean, this is Michael Faraday. This is early mid-19th century. Yes. But it was just the process of producing new knowledge, and that intrigued me, I think, from an early age. Of course, Michael Faraday, he was a physicist or a chemist. That wasn’t the area that really grabbed you, because by the time you get to secondary school, you discovered an interest in biology. Yeah, I love biology. We had a really good biology teacher, Johnny S. Williams, and she let us try and understand the world around us and be in control of our own teaching in some respects, to sort of go and learn about things that you’re interested in. And that was a very good lesson to learn from her. But yeah, biology was something I found I could relate to. Well, when you went to university, it was psychology that you chose to study. What made you go in that direction? Well, a couple of reasons. Psychology had a number of options. You could become a number of different people learning psychology. But more than that, I was interested in the brain. How is thought manifest in a physical form. These are really challenging ideas, and I think I was beginning to get an interest in that
Relating to the study of how brain processes affect cognition, behavior, and emotions
A general term for a decline in cognitive ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, often associated with memory loss and impaired thinking skills
The use of computer science and mathematics to analyze and model biological systems and processes
Prone to being affected by something, such as a disease or condition
Eager to learn, explore, or understand new things
Changes or alterations in the DNA sequence of a gene, which can lead to differences in traits or the development of diseases
Brief or informal notes or writings
Referring to Michael Faraday, a 19th-century English scientist who made significant contributions to the fields of physics and chemistry
The mental processes and abilities related to acquiring knowledge, understanding, and reasoning
To display or show a quality, trait, or phenomenon clearly or visibly
