Project Grant R43AG065072

This $885,006 project grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) aims to develop a smartphone-based point-of-care diagnostic system to detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers, including amyloid-beta, phosphorylated tau, and neurofilament light chain, in blood plasma. The primary recipient, Brigham & Women's Hospital Inc., will leverage microfluidics, nanotechnology, optical sensing, and deep learning to create an affordable, user-friendly test that can...

This $2,147,016 project grant awarded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders (CFDA 93.853) supports the development and validation of a blood-based biomarker test for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and related neurodegenerative disorders. The awardee, Neurodex Inc., aims to validate analytical methods for their EXOSORT technology, which isolates neuron-derived extracellular...

This $306,509 federal Project Grant awarded by the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to Captis Diagnostics Inc. aims to develop a technology platform for rapid magnetic isolation of neuronal extracellular vesicles (EVs) from blood plasma samples. The goal is to enable the detection of biomarkers for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and traumatic brain injury through a minimally invasive liquid biopsy approach. Key activities include developing...

The Johns Hopkins University was awarded a $2,399,582 Project Grant from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 Aging Research) to study extracellular vesicles derived from the brain as potential biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. The 3-year grant, which begins on September 1, 2023, aims to identify specific cell surface markers and molecular signatures on brain-derived extracellular vesicles that could be used for early disease detection, monitoring, and understanding Alzheimer's...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), under the Aging Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.866), provides $427,625 to the University of Washington to develop and validate blood-based biomarker assays for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). The key objectives are to optimize and fine-tune two complementary assays - a rapid flow cytometry-based extracellular vesicle (EV) screening tool (APOGEE)...

This federal Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 Aging Research) to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York provides $452,375 to investigate the potential use of the APLP1 protein as an early biomarker for Alzheimer's disease in individuals with Down syndrome. The project aims to leverage recent findings linking endosomal trafficking defects to the early pathology of Alzheimer's disease, which is observed decades before classical...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $472,695 to 3D Bioanalytix, Inc. to develop a blood-based diagnostic test for detecting and differentiating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The project aims to utilize a novel Covalent Protein Painting (CPP) technology platform to identify and distinguish the misfolded protein aggregates that characterize these neurodegenerative conditions. The goal is to create...

This $155,000 Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) supports research at Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS) to identify potential microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers for early detection and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The key objectives are to: Discover circulating miRNA biomarkers that can distinguish between individuals at different stages of AD, including those with mild cognitive impairment. This could enable earlier...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) will fund research to investigate the use of dried blood spot (DBS) samples for measuring Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. The $459,250 award to The General Hospital Corporation (Massachusetts General Hospital) aims to: 1) optimize fingerstick collection methods and validate assays for measuring key AD biomarkers (pTau217, GFAP, NFL) in capillary DBS samples; 2) establish if DBS biomarker...

The Johns Hopkins University has been awarded a $324,698 Project Grant from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to study cell-free DNA as a marker of Alzheimer's disease progression and its role in chronic inflammation. The study will use digital PCR to measure cell-free DNA levels in serum samples from individuals with mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition, and evaluate associations with rates of cognitive decline. Additionally, the research will assess the...