Creating a sustainable, dementia-friendly society

This article was published in the Spring 2023 issue of Litterae Populi. The full issue can be found here.

The Cognitive Science Research Center was established in April 2022 to promote world-class dementia-related research towards the creation of a sustainable aging society. Here, a broad array of research projects are underway to solve the pressing issues facing Japan’s aging society by bringing together all the wisdom of Hokkaido University.

Professor Ichiro Yabe (right), the representative of the Cognitive Science Research Center, and Associate Professor Mika Otsuki (left), the coordinator, oversee various research projects conducted at the Center.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of dementia patients aged 65 or older is expected to reach around seven million by 2025. This means that one in five elderly people will suffer from dementia. With its particularly rapidly shrinking and aging population, Hokkaido is expected to have a high ratio of dementia patients. Addressing the dementia issues requires a perspective stretching beyond medical intervention. It is a social issue that demands a comprehensive approach. Against this backdrop, Hokkaido University established the Cognitive Science Research Center in April 2022 to promote dementia-related research and countermeasures, and to ensure the successful deployment of the results in society. At the Center’s inaugural lecture meeting in July 2022, Hokkaido University President Kiyohiro Houkin, who chaired the Science Council of Japan’s Comprehensive Study Committee on Cognitive Impairment, delivered a keynote speech. The event drew a significant crowd, including researchers from within and outside the University, as well as corporate representatives, indicating the keen interest in this subject matter.

Tackling the challenges with the University’s collective strength 

Dementia-related research subjects are manifold. In addition to medical areas, dementia involves countless issues crossing disciplinary boundaries that must be addressed, including social issues of supporting people with dementia and enabling them to live their own lives. Expertise in information engineering and other disciplines is also necessary to take advantage of AI and other technologies. Capitalizing on the advantages of the comprehensive university, the Center aims to create a dementia-friendly society, based on the three pillars of developing technologies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of dementia; creating a dementia-friendly community; and promoting digitalization and eliminating the digital divide.

Experiments at the Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine.

The members of the Center include researchers from various departments, including the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University Hospital, the Institute for Genetic Medicine, the Faculty of Advanced Life Science, and the Faculty of Information Science and Technology. Professor Ichiro Yabe (Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine), who serves as the representative of the Center, shares his aspirations, “My hope is that by fostering more lateral ties through interdepartmental collaboration, we can achieve greater research results than before.”

Dementia is a general term used for symptoms caused by cognitive decline and does not denote a specific disease. Even if someone is diagnosed with dementia, identifying the specific causative disease can be an extremely challenging task. This has been an obstacle to the development of therapeutic drugs. To find clues to resolve this issue, Professor Yabe is focusing on the establishment of a brain bank in Hokkaido. Brain banks collect and store biological samples of dementia patients, including brain, spinal fluid, and blood, for use in the development of diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Brain banks already exist in and around Tokyo, but there are none in Hokkaido, yet. The establishment of brain banks for the analysis of genes, proteins, and other biological molecules helps to identify components that may be applied to diagnose dementia-causing diseases, which in turn lead to the development of therapeutic drugs. 

Remote evaluation of an elderly person’s cognitive function.

Currently, the Faculty of Advanced Life Science and the Institute for Genetic Medicine are using these biological samples to develop biomarkers that can be used for the early detection of dementia, the diagnosis of diseases that cause dementia, and evaluation of the severity of dementia.

Living well with dementia

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown the importance of remote systems in a wide range of fields. Regardless of the pandemic, however, remote systems may be key in the fight against dementia. As with other diseases, early detection of dementia is essential for its treatment, but specialist consultations are not easily accessible to people in many areas of Hokkaido. As the Center’s coordinator, Associate Professor Mika Otsuki (Department of Emergent Neurocognition, Faculty of Health Sciences) remotely monitors the daily lives of elderly people while maintaining respect for their privacy, observing changes in their movements and collecting and analyzing their data to detect early signs of dementia. Dr. Otsuki enthuses about the future, “We are currently collecting data with the cooperation of elderly residents of the Makomanai Danchi-Complex in Sapporo. I hope to collect data on a much larger scale in the future, and to use the analysis results to benefit the community, and establish a regional network to combat dementia.”

Explaining how to use a cell phone to perform brain training exercises.

The center is also conducting many other projects, including the development of diagnostic imaging techniques using new MRI technology, the suppression of brain inflammation that is associated with early symptoms of dementia, the study of genes that cause dementia, and the research of dementia-preventing foods. Through these research projects, the issue of how society should address dementia is investigated from many perspectives.

Dr. Otsuki comments, “People with dementia require varying degrees of care, from around-the-clock assistance to none at all. Our goal is to create a seamless system that provides care at every stage of the disease, allowing people to help one another when necessary.” Professor Yabe hopes that many people will become interested in dementia and join them as friends of their research or supporters of people with dementia. The Cognitive Science Research Center strives to create a dementia-friendly society filled with optimism for the future by tackling dementia together, a disease that will affect everyone directly or indirectly.

This article was published in the Spring 2023 issue of Litterae Populi. The full issue can be found here.