LW

Luke Weymouth

Luke graduated from the University of Exeter in 2015 with a BSc Honours degree in Biological Sciences. He then spent four years working as a technician at the NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility (CRF) providing technical support to various research studies and then three years as a research assistant within the Complex Disease Epigenomics group before taking up a PhD studentship in the same group. Luke's PhD focuses on the epigenetics of Alzheimer's disease, specifically on methylation of the APOE gene of which the ε4 variant is the greatest genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease.

My ORCiD profile
Activity
Joined 4 November 2024
0 upvotes
2 reviews

Reviews

How the ‘amyloid mafia’ took over Alzheimer’s research

STAT
5
Evidence
5
Balance
8
Clarity

The article is well written and covers plenty of valid arguments against the amyloid hypothesis and shines a light on the weaknesses of the new amyloid clearing drugs that have recently been approved to treat Alzheimer's. However it must be said that there aren't many counter arguments presented. There is a very large body of evidence in favour of the amyloid hypothesis that isn't covered here. The article focuses quite heavily on the 2006 research article which falsified results linking aβ*56 to Alzheimer's disease (perhaps understandingly given the author broke the original story) but no mention is made of other amyloids that are also linked to Alzheimer's disease. I also think describing the field as a "mafia" is incorrect as many leading proponents of the amyloid hypothesis admit that other factors also contribute towards Alzheimer's (see Sir Professor John Hardy's comments in: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/for-researchers/explaining-amyloid-research-study-controversy)

0

Alzheimer's 'wonder' drug will be blocked by NHS from TODAY

Mail Online
7
Evidence
5
Balance
7
Clarity

This article is relatively clear and provides evidence and quotes from several sources bemoaning the fact that Donanemab will not be available on the NHS. I would however question the balance of the article, which contains no sources backing the move and provides little background as to why this drug won't be available besides it being "too expensive".

0