Alzheimer’s early detection tests using video games developed by Rutgers-Newark researchers may help spot the disease years before symptoms are noticeable and provide a non-invasive form of dementia screening. The innovative Rutgers dementia tests match the results of a new generation of blood tests that reveal biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and are widely available. However, this non-invasive form of screening is painless and doesn’t require blood samples, bypassing the need for trained technicians. The tests could also be more cost effective for doctors, according to Rutgers-Newark researchers.
The study comes from the Aging & Brain Health Alliance at Rutgers-Newark, which focuses on the role of lifestyle and genetics in delaying Alzheimer’s. Their latest discovery could be a boon to pharmaceutical researchers since it points to a non-invasive way to choose drug trial participants who are in the earliest stages of the disease, said neuroscientist Mark Gluck, the lab’s director.
That could shave years off a clinical trial timetable. Researchers would no longer have to wait for the disease to be conventionally diagnosed. Doctors now believe changes in the brain start 10 to 15 years before they produce obvious impairment. “It’s pretty exciting for us because even before any problems with cognition become obvious, we have an early warning sign,” said lead author Miray Budak of the Center for Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience. To read the full story.