On a Saturday morning (April 8th) the Alzheimer Centrum at the VUmc in Amsterdam opened its doors to the public for the second edition of what is called the Geheugendag (from dutch, the Memory day). The vision behind Geheugendag is to allow the general public to interact with researchers at the Alzheimer Centrum and be informed about the latest developments in the field of AD research, as well as the current research projects of the center itself. In addition to a guided tour through the facilities, visitors could attend two talks on Alzheimer’s and the current research, meet researchers and share experiences, as well as obtain information regarding the projects running at the hospital.
As part of these activities, two researchers (Lyduine Collij and Isadora Lopes Alves) prepared and presented a poster to introduce and explain the AMYPAD project. The poster highlighted the importance of assessing the β-amyloid status at the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease for secondary prevention, the advantages of PET imaging and its relationship to other radiation sources, as well as the setting in which AMYPAD will take place and how participants could join the project.
The poster was very well-received and many visitors understood and agreed with the relevance of the project. In fact, some even asked how to be a part of it! The researchers believe this was an important experience to understand the motivation behind participating in the AMYPAD study, which will hopefully help not only recruitment but also the way in which AMYPAD gives back to the community during and after the project life. After all, the ultimate goal always lies with the patient.
