An inspirational couple who have raised thousands of pounds for dementia research have been thanked by Aberdeen's Lord Provost for their latest donation of £38,000.
Over the past 12 years, Charles and Carol Bain have been tirelessly raising money for Alzheimer’s and dementia research.
They were inspired to undertake their fundraising effort after witnessing first-hand the devastating impact that the disease has on sufferers and their families after both of their fathers were diagnosed with the disease.
Charles and Carol took it upon themselves over the years to raise the funds and incredibly, with the help of many generous company sponsors, they have donated more than £300,000 to University of Aberdeen researchers to help fund vital research into Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. This has included the purchase of much-need equipment including:
• A high-performance liquid chromatographer (HPLC) for separating out chemicals
• A mass spectrometer (MS) which identifies these chemicals in tiny amounts
• A cassette-reactor which produces different tracers labelled with radioactive isotopes
• A peptide synthesizer which generates sub-units of proteins which can be made into tracers.
Most recently, Charles and Carol have continued to raise money for the cause on behalf of the Lord Provost’s Charitable Trust and the Trust has donated a cheque for £38,000 to the University of Aberdeen to help scientists continue their vital research into this devastating disease.
Aberdeen Lord Provost, Dr David Cameron said: “Charles and Carol Bain are an inspirational local couple who are committed to improving the lives of dementia sufferers and their families through the incredible amount of money they have raised over the years for this vital research.
“On behalf of the Lord Provost’s Charitable Trust and the entire city, I want to thank them both enormously for their unwavering support and passion to the cause, as it clear to see the impact their fundraising is having on the research work being carried out here in Aberdeen by the University.
“The funds raised are allowing the University of Aberdeen to lead on research in the fight against this devastating disease and both Charles and Carol should be incredibly proud of their efforts.”
Professor David Blackbourn, Director of the Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “Charles and Carol Bain’s fundraising has been truly exceptional and has been completely dedicated to helping individuals and their families who are impacted by dementia by raising very substantial amounts of money to fund important work at the University of Aberdeen.
"These contributions have already made a real difference to our understanding of dementia and will continue to do so. This latest amount raised will fund a PhD studentship working on a dementia research project supervised by Drs Daniel Berg and Eunchai Kang. The work will enable the generation of small human brain-like structures to study the behaviour of neural stem cells, as well as examining how the immune cells affect the neurons in a diseased brain.
“We are incredibly grateful to have had the support of Charles and Carol and for the tireless efforts they have put into their fundraising."