Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Diagnostics Accelerator Expands Its Investments in Digital Biomarkers for Early Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Researchers are combining the latest technology with a growing knowledge of Alzheimer’s biology to develop non-invasive and affordable digital tools for earlier Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) Diagnostics Accelerator today announced four new research investments for development of digital biomarkers for Alzheimer’s diagnosis. These technology-based biomarkers will help identify subtle, yet pertinent psychological and behavioral changes that happen very early in people with Alzheimer’s but may go unnoticed.

“Smart phones, tablets and wearable devices can collect data from patients like never before and big data can help us analyze it to find patterns that can tell early signs of dementia from normal aging,” says Howard Fillit, M.D., Founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. “Today’s awards support exciting research projects across the world that are combining cutting-edge technologies with the latest scientific insights into Alzheimer’s.”

The Diagnostics Accelerator is a partnership with funding commitments totaling nearly $50 million over three years from ADDF Co-Founder Leonard A. Lauder, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, and The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, among others, to develop novel biomarkers for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

New digital biomarker research investments

The largest of the research awards, up to nearly $2 million, supports work by Rhoda Au, Ph.D. and her team at Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. The team at Boston University is developing digital profiles to identify changes in cognition, mood and depression that could signal early-stage Alzheimer’s. The team is collecting their data from participants in the Framingham Heart Study, the nation’s largest and longest running study of risk factors for heart disease. These participants are a perfect fit for Dr. Au’s study because they are at the age of high-risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Guoliang Xing, D.Sc. and his team at the Chinese University of Hong Kong are using a combination of motion sensors in wearable devices, acoustic sensors in tablets and smartphones, and depth sensors to collect data on Alzheimer’s patients’ ability to complete their everyday activities. The award of up to $641,204 supports not only data collection, but development of deep learning technologies that can recognize, classify, and analyze the data to assess current patient risks and predict Alzheimer’s progression.

Two other awards are for novel digital tests that can assess cognitive and emotional changes in Alzheimer’s patients. Dr. Ramit Ravona-Springer, Dr. Meir Plotnik, and their team at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel were awarded up to $249,810 for their work on a new virtual reality tool that can measure apathy, a common symptom of Alzheimer’s that is often misdiagnosed as depression.

Neurotrack Technologies in California will be awarded up to $792,990 for their work designing cognitive assessments that can be administered at home on smartphones, tablets, or computers. The at-home tests will allow for ongoing monitoring of multiple data types—including eye tracking, voice, and touch—that can distinguish between people with normal cognitive function, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Since its 2018 launch, the Diagnostics Accelerator has made investments to 26 world-class researchers across the globe. The investments are made to both academic institutions and biotech companies. In addition to digital biomarkers, the Diagnostics Accelerator supports research into blood, ocular, and genetic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.

The ADDF invests in a diverse research portfolio of novel drug targets and biomarkers that reflect the many biological pathways and systems associated with the biology of aging, which is the number one risk factor for Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

“The first step in finding drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s begins with the ability to accurately diagnose patients and identify which biological processes underlie their Alzheimer’s,” says Dr. Fillit. “In the short-term, this will help ensure the right people are enrolling in clinical trials. But these same tests will eventually be a powerful tool in helping physicians provide precision treatments to Alzheimer’s patients.”