ETH spin-off aims to revolutionise the treatment of dementia

(CONNECT) The two neuroscientists Caroline Lustenberger and Rafael Polanía are developing early detection diagnostics for Alzheimer's dementia in their ETH spin-off Herencia. "To diagnose Alzheimer's, we record the movements of the pupils under specific conditions, because they are our window to the brain," Lustenberger is quoted as saying in an ETH report. In future, the eye-tracking device is to be replaced by the smartphone. This should allow an early and globally scalable assessment of Alzheimer's risk.

So far, you can only see the damage when it's too late, says Lustenberger. This is one of the reasons why previous clinical studies by pharmaceutical companies on Alzheimer's therapies have been negative. "We want to intervene long before the first damage is visible."

The two Herencia founders are working with the neuroscience group at the University of Antioquia in the Colombian capital Medellín in the search for possible therapies to combat this dementia, which is becoming increasingly widespread worldwide. The group has been conducting research for years in a village where people develop dementia at an early age due to a particular genetic predisposition. Group leader Francisco Lopera discovered three gene variants in the genetic material of a woman who died healthy at the age of 77 despite a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's. These variants protect against dementia. To this end, he worked together with researchers from Harvard University. These findings are now being used to develop gene therapies.

The group and Herencia developed the Villa Aliria project village concept to bring together research, diagnostics, therapy and care in a holistic way. The University of Antioquia is providing the land near Medellín for this purpose. "We are now close to translating the findings from the Alzheimer's cohort in Medellín into a globally scalable model," says Lustenberger. Strong partners are now being sought for this. ce/mm