A multi-modal neuroimaging approach to characterize BuChE-specific radioligands for early and definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes dementia. Effective therapies to slow or reverse progression of AD have yet to be realized clinically, owed largely to the lack of accurate diagnosis achievable by current methods. The need for early, definitive diagnosis of AD during life is imperative for disease management, and relies heavily on the improvement of brain imaging techniques. Efforts towards imaging of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) is an attractive and viable approach for a definitive diagnostic test for AD, as the elevated expression of this enzyme is characteristically associated with pathological plaques in the AD brain exclusively and is notably absent in the non-AD brain. Treventis Corporation have developed specialized BuChE-specific radioactive tracers which are promising candidates for such AD diagnostics. The aim of this proposed research is to develop and implement a comprehensive diagnostic imaging and analysis framework for Treventis.

Faculty Supervisor:

Chris Bowen

Student:

Partner:

Treventis Corporation;IWK Health Centre

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Dalhousie University

Program: