The researchers are hopeful a prototype could be ready to start testing as soon as next year
British scientists are developing a £10 at-home finger prick blood test forThe test uses a new technique involving tiny gold “nanoparticles” that the researchers originally developed as a test for Covid.The developers, from Exeter University spinout, are now looking to use their new technique for other diagnostic tests, including Alzheimer’s.
There are currently no blood tests for the disease available – although a number of others are in development – meaning this one could potentially be the first.The test would work by identifying nine proteins associated with Alzheimer’s – seven of which fall into the category of “tau” proteins, which can form tangles that block communication between brain cells.It takes gold nanoparticles, so small they are undetectable to the human eye, mixes them with the blood and illuminates them from below.
The gold particles scatter the light that comes into contact with them differently depending on which substances are attached to them, that have different densities and other properties. As such, they can be used to determine the presence of Alzheimer’s-causing and other proteins and substances. The researchers are only in the early stages of developing the Alzheimer’s test but more than 20 previous peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that the technique works and the science behind dementia proteins is fairly well understood by this point – although it is by no means certain that the test will work.
As such, Professor Andrew Shaw, chief executive an founder of Attomarker and associate professor of physical chemistry at the University of Exeter, is hopeful that an early version of the test could be developed as soon as next year – although more tests and development would be needed before it could be made available more widely.
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