Modelling Dementia

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s are devastating conditions with poorly understood mechanisms and no known cure. Yet a striking feature of these conditions is the characteristic pattern of invasion throughout the brain, leading to well-codified disease stages visible to neuropathology and associated with various cognitive deficits and pathologies. In this talk, I will show that by linking new mathematical theories to recent progress in imaging, we can unravel some of the universal features associated with dementia and, more generally, brain functions. In particular, I will outline interesting mathematical problems and ideas that naturally appear in the process.