(Providence, RI) -- The Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital, with support from the Warren Alpert Foundation and Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University, has launched a new research study to evaluate methods for early and accurate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis. The BioFinder-Brown Study aims to validate new blood tests in individuals who are healthy, yet may have a higher risk for developing AD. The study will also use these and other metrics to better predict the risk and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Developing easy-to-use blood tests will lead to early diagnosis and treatment and be a game changer in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Stephen Salloway, Principal Investigator of the BioFinder-Brown site.
The study is being conducted in collaboration with the Swedish BIOFINDER Study based at Lund University under the leadership of Oskar Hansson, MD, Ph.D. BIOFINDER, which stands for BIOmarkers For Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably, collaborates with leading scientists, universities, and companies worldwide to discover key pathological mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease. Butler Hospital and Brown University are excited to be partnering with the BioFinder team, global leaders in developing blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease.
The BioFinder-Brown study is now enrolling approximately 200 participants of diverse ethnicities who are between the ages of 50 and 80 years old and perform normally and have no significant memory impairment. Four hundred participants will be enrolled in Sweden using the same protocol. Participation in the five-year study will involve procedures such as blood testing, memory, and thinking assessments, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, and Retinal (Eye) Imaging scans. Some procedures such as additional PET scans and learning about the individual risk for AD will be optional for interested individuals.
Those interested in learning more about participating in the BioFinder-Brown study can visit the study’s website at butler.org/BIOFINDER, call (401) 455-6402 or send an e-mail to memory@butler.org.
The mission of Brown University’s Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science is to promote discovery and innovation in brain science by supporting a diverse community of experimentalists, theorists, engineers, and clinicians. We do this by recruiting and retaining world-class faculty, creating an outstanding collaborative training environment, seeding innovative projects, supporting collaborative teams, and raising the visibility and reputation of Carney researchers.
The Carney Institute supports research, training, and outreach to enhance its community of 200 faculty members and their laboratories from 20 academic and clinical units at Brown. The institute’s pioneering work is driving discovery that promises to improve the quality of life for people affected by brain disorders and injury and help us understand the complexities of the brain. For more information, visit brown.edu/carney.