Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK), a British dementia research charity, has launched a global initiative aimed at developing new digital diagnostics for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-causing conditions. The EDoN (Early Detection of Neurodegenerative diseases) initiative was launched at the World Economic Forum held in Davos earlier this year.
EDoN is co-funded by ARUK, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, bringing together experts in data science, digital technologies and neurodegeneration to share ideas, technologies and data. EDoN aims to create a digital toolkit that could be used to detect early behavioural and functional signs of neurodegeneration associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions. By measuring these digital fingerprints using wearable devices, EDoN aims to provide a valuable behavioural counterpoint to complement minimally-invasive clinical measures such as blood tests. Together, it is hoped that these composite measures will more accurately detect the very earliest signs of dementia-causing conditions.
