Principal Investigator
Simon Ducharme
McGill University
Co-investigator
Étienne deVillers-Sidani
McGill University
Project of $ 1,140,606 over 2 years
- Supported by CQDM through:
Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie du Québec (MEIE) - And by co-funding partner:
– INNODEM Neurosciences
Challenge:
Early detection and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease are significant challenges in clinical practice, research, and treatment response. The main obstacles are time constraints related to patient assessment and the lack of objective, cost-effective, disease-specific biomarkers.
Solution:
Building on years of scientific literature demonstrating eye movement abnormalities in neurodegenerative disorders, Innodem Neurosciences has developed an eye-tracking technology that can accurately track eye movements, using only the camera of an iPad Pro. This technology has given rise to a set of mobile applications that easily capture and analyze eye movements, providing a non-invasive, rapid, and objective way to develop digital biomarkers of disease status and progression. A first set of digital biomarkers has recently been developed for multiple sclerosis, which has recently been approved for implementation in a mobile application (ETNA-MS™). Using the same mobile eye-tracking technology, the research team’s main goal is to develop similar digital biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease that can help with patient stratification, monitoring disease progression, and assessing response to treatment.
Expected Achievements /Impacts:
The development of digital biomarkers has the potential to significantly improve and objectify clinical practice, reduce time and monetary costs for patients and the healthcare system, improve access to patients in remote areas, and provide a surrogate biomarker for the development of novel Alzheimer’s disease-modifying therapies. These advances would also allow Innodem to play a central role in advancing clinical assessment tools, providing the healthcare system with advances in personalized medicine.
