SBIR-STTR Award

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related disease clinically diagnosed by the onset ofdementia. This disease is defined by the formation of amyloid-beta (A) plaques and NFTscomposed of tau aggregates. Although tau pathology has been considered secondary to Aaccumulation, it has been proposed that it may correlate more accurately to diseaseprogression and cognitive changes. Abnormal tau aggregation occurs not only in theAlzheimer's disease, but also in a family of protein-misfolding diseases called tauopathies.Currently, diagnosis of AD in individuals showing symptoms of cognitive decline is a lengthy andcostly process, requiring multiple modes of testing over months to years. Early, pre-symptomaticdiagnosis is even more challenging, if not impossible, with currently available technology.The only definitive way to diagnose AD is through post-mortem analysis. An ante-mortemdiagnostic is needed that can reliably identify AD at the early, asymptomatic stages, enablingpatients to get under the guidance of neurologist before the disease is at an advanced stage tomaximize the opportunity for therapeutic intervention. Furthermore, a useful and affordableoutcome marker is needed for clinical trials focused on therapies for AD/tauopathies that couldstop or reverse progression of the disease. Amydis' goal is to address these unmet needs byidentifying tau in the eye, as a window to the brain, for early detection of AD/tauopathies. Thisproposal aims to develop small molecule fluorescent retinal tracers as a novel diagnostic forAlzheimer's disease and tauopathies. Project Narrative Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a tauopathy age-related disease defined by the presence of amyloid beta and tau deposits. Accumulation of tau has been identified in retinal tissue of diseased individuals. The proposed research aims to advance a non-invasive ocular diagnostic test for imaging of tau deposits through the eye. 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