The Australia Dementia Research Forum 2026 was held this week in Sydney and it was wonderful to see the SIESTA community so involved throughout the conference.
SIESTA on the centre stage!
We were also proud to see two of our Associate Investigators take centre stage: A/Prof Stephanie Ward was convenor of the conference and delivered the welcome address, while A/Prof Elie Matar presented on delirium as an early sign of Dementia with Lewy Bodies.
It was also fantastic to see members of our SIESTA Lived Experience Panel (SLEAP), Peggy Trompf and Bill Yeates, participate in a meet and greet workshop, helping EMCRs build connections with peers and people with lived experience.
To top of a fabulous week, our very own Dr Johannes Michaelian, was awarded the Baillieu Myer AC Early Career Researcher Award, Congratulations Joey!
SIESTA Poster Presentations:
The poster sessions showcased an impressive variety of projects, innovative research, and engaging discussions — a real testament to the depth of talent in our community. Thank you to everyone who presented and helped make ADRF such an inspiring and memorable event. 👏👏👏
Huge congratulations to:
- Dr Nicole Espinosa Zarlenga — A Blood-Brain-Memory Pathway: CA1 Mediates Plasma Nfl and pTau217 Associations With Memory in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease
- Clara Cher Yi Tan — Feasibility and Acceptability of an Ambulatory Sleep Device in Older Adults with Cognitive Concerns: A Pilot Study
- Weiran Zhang — How Hypothalamus Volume Correlates with Plasma Biomarker and Metabolites in Individuals at Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
- Dr Aaron Lam — Greater Hypoxemia During REM Sleep is Linked to Decreased Basal Forebrain Volume in Older Adults Who are pTau217 Positive
- Dr Anastasia Suraev — Longitudinal Associations Between Subjective Sleep Quality and Functional Disability in Older Adults at Risk of Dementia
- Dr Rhearne Ryan — A Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonist to Reduce Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration in Adults With Insomnia (Neuro-DORA): A Protocol for a Randomised Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial
- Dr Grace Austin — Association of Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Blood Biomarkers or Alzheimer’s Disease
- Rachael Yu —Sleep-dependent Dynamics of Neuroinflammation Across the Alzheimer’s Continuum
SIESTArs Lunch Catch-Up
It was also wonderful to bring our SIESTArs (ECMR committee) together for a lunch meet-up during the conference — a great chance to network, swap notes, and celebrate everyone’s hard work in person. 🥪
Well done to all involved — we can’t wait to see what’s next! ✨
