Funding announced for first UK Dementia Research Institute

The UK's first Dementia Research Institute is set to receive up to 150 million pounds in government funding, it has been announced.

With this money. the institute aims to drive forward important changes in research and development strategies. It is expected to be up and running by 2020 at the latest.

Led by the Medical Research Council, the institute will bring together world-leading experts, universities and organisations to accelerate the pace of research, develop new diagnostic tests and tackle the progression of the disease.

It will have a central UK hub, with links to universities across the country, and will build on the centres of excellence in dementia already operating across the UK. A competitive process will be launched in 2016 asking universities to come forward to host the institute itself.

Prime minister David Cameron said the establishment of the institute "will allow us to draw together cutting-edge research tools and expertise to defeat this disease once and for all".

This represents the latest step in a long-term strategy to combat dementia, with more than 300 million pounds already committed for UK research, and a separate global fund to drive international innovation.