Interdisciplinary Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Roles International Societies Can Play
Shawn Zheng Kai Tan1, Robert Chunhua Zhao2,3,4, Sasanka Chakrabarti2,3,5,*, Ilia Stambler2,3,6,*, Kunlin Jin2,3,7,*, Lee Wei Lim1,2,3,*
1Neuromodulation Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. 2International Society on Aging and Disease (ISOAD), Fort Worth, Texas, USA. 3The Executive Committee on Anti-aging and Disease Prevention in the framework of Science and Technology, Pharmacology and Medicine Themes under an Interactive Atlas along the Silk Roads, UNESCO, Paris, France. 4School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. 5Department of Biochemistry and Central Research Cell, M M Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, India. 6The Geriatric Medical Center "Shmuel Harofe", Beer Yaakov, affiliated to Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. 7Department of Pharmacology & Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Texas, USA.
An ever-increasing ageing population has elevated Alzheimer’s disease to be one of the biggest challenges in modern medicine. Alzheimer’s disease is highly complex, and we are still no closer to understanding the causes, let alone an effective treatment. The lack of good experimental models and lack of critical understanding has led to high failure rates of clinical trials with high associated costs, as well as difficulties in implementing treatments. The multifaceted nature of this disease highlights the need for an interdisciplinary approach to address these concerns. In this essay, we suggest how collaborative work can be useful in addressing some of the above issues. We then propose that international organisations and publishers need to support interdisciplinary research by creating platforms, lobbying funders, and pushing for interdisciplinary publications. We further highlight some of the issues involved in implementing these suggestions and argue that willpower of the research community, together with a re-evaluation of evaluation metrics and incentive systems, are needed in order to foster interdisciplinary research. Overall, we emphasise the need for interdisciplinary research in Alzheimer’s disease and suggest that international societies should play a huge role in this endeavour.
Tan Shawn Zheng Kai,Zhao Robert Chunhua,Chakrabarti Sasanka, et al. Interdisciplinary Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Roles International Societies Can Play[J]. Aging and disease,
2021, 12(1): 36-41.
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