Ryu Takechi – CVBA – Cerebrovascular Biology Australasia

A/Prof Ryu Takechi

Senior Research Fellow

Head, Dementia-in-Diabetes Research Group

Curtin Medical Research Institute (Curtin MRI)

Faculty of Health Sciences

Curtin University

Dr. Ryu Takechi is an Associate Professor at Curtin University and the founding Chair of Cerebrovascular Biology Australasia (CVBA). He is internationally recognised for his research in cerebrovascular physiology, dementia, and translational therapeutics. With a background in nutritional biochemistry and vascular physiology, Ryu trained in Japan and Canada before establishing his laboratory in Australia. His work focuses on the mechanisms by which vascular dysfunction contributes to cognitive decline, particularly in metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, and the development of novel therapeutic interventions, including repurposed drugs like probucol.

Ryu has secured over $12 million in research funding, including multiple NHMRC grants and international funds. He serves on several prestigious committees, including the Australian Research Council’s Medical Research Advisory Group and the Singapore National Medical Research Council’s Grant Review Panel. His leadership has helped shape national research strategies and fostered the development of early- and mid-career researchers across disciplines. Through his ongoing work, he aims to accelerate the translation of cutting-edge research into clinical and public health outcomes that improve brain health across Australasia and beyond.

Project Highlights

The role of circulating lipoprotein-amyloid on cerebral vascular function and cognitive decline in diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is well-established to increase the risk of dementia and cognitive decline by ~5-fold. However, the underlying mechanisms are unknown and there is no established therapeutic strategy. My previous have identified that elevated amyloid-b bound to lipoproteins in the circulation may disrupt blood-brain barrier and induce cognitive decline, although this is not comprehensively studied in the context of Diabetes-induced Dementia. Thus, this proof-of-concept project uses our unique transgenic mouse model of lipoprotein-amyloid as well as clinical cohort studies to test the role of circulating lipoprotein-amyloid on cerebrovascular integrity and cognitive performance in diabetes.

Developing a novel drug therapies for Alzheimer's dementia.

Through >15 years of research using clinically relevant mouse models, my team has developed two promising pharmacological agents for Alzheimer's disease: Probucol (repositioning historic lipid-lowering drug) and HA-1 (a patented novel compound developed in our lab), to effectively target the lipoprotien-amyloid/cerebrovascular pathways. Here, we test the efficacy of probucol in patients with early Alzheimer's whilst we test the efficacy and safety of HA-1 in relevant rodent models.

Nutraceutical supplementation of garlic extract and L-arginine in reducing migraine burden.

Our years of research indicate that garlic extract and L-arginine supports the integrity and blood flow of cerebral microvascular network. Based on this, our hypothesis is that these nutraceutical agents will reduce the pain burden associated with migraine. Through phase II clinical trials, we test the efficacy of these agents in individuals with episodic migraine.

Research Keywords

Dementia
Diabetes
Lipid Metabolism
Animal Models
Clinical Cohort Studies
Clinical Trials
Amyloid-β
blood-brain barrier
Cerebral Microvascular Integrity
Nutraceutical
Drug Development
Commercialisation