Lay summary
New treatments and lifestyle interventions have presented important improvements in people affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD) when diagnosed early. Nonetheless, early diagnosis biomarkers for AD still elude us. I am a bioengineer and leader of the Animus Laboratory. My main career goal is to study the integration of the brain with other systems in the human body. This Fellowship will allow me to establish myself as a leader in neuroscience by deepening collaborations with world-leading experts in physiology and neuroscience towards developing a computational model capable of characterising the deterioration of the cerebrovasculature in AD. The proposed models will explore the early signs of this deterioration process for early diagnosis of AD. My group and I will spearhead a new direction in the study of AD with the potential benefit of reducing part of its $6.2 billion financial burden and bringing New Zealand as an international leader in AD research.