A particle accelerator used in Oxfordshire has shed light on the causes of Alzheimer’s disease.

The Diamond Light Source synchrotron microscope at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus was used to study a protein found in sufferers’ brains.

Sufferers are found to have too much ferrous iron in their brains in the same place as brain lesions made up of the protein.

It was unknown if the protein was the cause or effect of the lesions, but research found it can cause toxic iron levels.