AI-powered next-generation imaging biomarkers for dementia

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Dementia is one of the foremost global healthcare challenges of our times, with a vast physical, psychological, social and economic impact. About 50 million people worldwide live with dementia today and this number is expected to triple by 2050. The direct medical and social care costs have been estimated in 2015 to be 1.4% of gross domestic product in high-income countries. Since 2016, dementia has become the leading cause of deaths in the UK. Even today, in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, Covid-19 is hitting people with dementia the hardest, with dementia being the most common pre-existing condition for people dying of Covid-19. Moreover, patients recovered from Covid-19 are thought to be at significantly increased risk for dementia later in life. Indeed, the need to find a cure for dementia has never been greater.However, till this day, no disease-modifying treatments have been developed. The attrition rate of treatment trials for Alzheimer's disease (AD), the commonest cause of dementia, is high, with 98% failing in Phase III. The reason, at least in part, for the successive, and often costly, trial failures is likely to be that the disease is targeted too late, after significant and irreversible loss of brain cells has occurred. Hence, there is now a consensus and drive towards undertaking trials of therapies much earlier, before the disease becomes irreversible. This calls for the development of more advanced biomarkers that can offer increased sensitivity for identifying individuals at early stages of the disease.University College London (UCL) is an international leader in the development of cutting-edge MRI biomarkers for early diagnosis of dementia. Dr Michele Guerreri, the proposed secondee, is an early-career imaging researcher at UCL who has made significant progress in our quest towards better biomarkers for dementia. This secondment is driven by the aspiration to translate this cutting-edge research into a product to accelerate its real-world impact.AINOSTICS, the hosting organization, is an award-winning imaging AI start-up which specialises in combining cutting-edge MRI and other biomarker data with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) to detect early changes in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. They thus represent a perfect partner to deliver this project.This project will boost the skills of Dr Guerreri which will be working in a cutting-edge AI environment, learning the translation process from a research idea into a commercial product. The Secondee will have the opportunity to experience the commercial sector for the first time, learning the development and commercialisation process of his academic research. The hosting organisation will benefit from the Secondee's expertise in the development of state-of-the-art imaging biomarkers for dementia.In the long term, the project will lay the groundwork for a close collaboration between UCL and AINOSTICS. The expertise gained by Dr Guerreri will allow him to develop similar relationships with other players in the vibrant UK imaging AI sector, closing the traditional gap that has been preventing or slowing the knowledge exchange between biomedical industry and academia.