A treatment for Alzheimer's will be ready and available within 20 years, according to a leading UK expert.
Professor Julie Williams and her team believe that treatment for one of the most common forms of the disease will be accessible by 2040 after identifying 92 genes that significantly increase the risk of developing the progressive condition.
When research began in 2009, the scientists knew of just three genes, with Professor Williams telling the BBC: ""Things are speeding up and improving all the time. I've learnt more in the last seven years than I did in the previous 20."
Alzheimer's disease is one of the biggest killers for people over the age of 50 in the UK and is the most common cause of dementia. In Scotland, over 90,000 people have dementia, according to Alzheimer's Scotland.
The academic, who was appointed CBE for her research, explained that the gene therapy has helped improve understanding, telling more and more each day.
The professor, who is centre director at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University and has studied Alzheimer's for 30 years, added: "Once you know where to start looking then you can study the effects which genes have on specific brain activity," she said.
"Tests which cost millions in the '90s can now be carried out for around £30.
"For example we now know that defective genes changing the way immune cells called microglia work.
"These are the bin lorries of the brain clearing away what they see as rubbish. They may be less efficient at clearing genuine rubbish and mistakenly kill off healthy brain cells, including synapses.
"Of course synapses are the connections between neurons, so if they get eliminated when they shouldn't, then you lose connections, you lose thought, you lose memories."
The expert further explained that her team's study made her realise there will never be one smoking gun when it comes to the disease and instead there are several contributing factors and several therapies that may be preventative.
"By 2040 I think we'll be in the position to offer a range of treatment and we might not know exactly why, but one of them will be able to act on the huge range of causes," she said.
Some drugs have already been cleared, with clinical clearance possible inside the next five years, Professor Williams said.
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