A team of researchers from Scientists have turned to the brightest brains in Britain in a bid to understand the link between intelligence and dementia.

"Combining this study with the Mensa research will take cognitive genetic research to an altogether new level and maintain The University of Manchester's position as a world leader in the field," said Dr Payton.

"Scientists are interested in intelligence genes because high intelligence protects against the onset of dementias such as Alzheimer's disease.

"A greater understanding of the role that genes play in regulating intelligence may help in the development of new diagnostic tests and more effective treatments designed to combat cognitive impairment in the elderly."

Mensa has more than 25,500 members in the United Kingdom and Ireland, all of whom have an IQ that is measured in the top 2% of the population.

The aim of the project is to initially recruit at least 1,000 members and investigate if there is a difference between their genetic polymorphisms and those found in average IQ individuals using the Dyne Steele DNA bank.

Most studies to date have only investigated single polymorphisms in single genes but given there are more than 33,000 human genes these approaches are incredibly expensive and time consuming.

Using cutting-edge technology, known as 'Affymetrix Microarray', Dr Payton's team will be able to investigate more than 100,000 polymorphisms at a time and hope to identify many intelligence genes in a short time.

man.ac/