Non Invasive Identification of amyloid Plaques in Human Retina for Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis currently relies on the observation of cognitive impairments and memory loss. Developing tools enabling earlier diagnosis could help test new treatments that may be more effective when acting at early time points of the disease. While amyloid peptide plaque (A?) tracers used with PET imaging are now available to confirm the presence of this hallmark of the disease, the price and nature (radioactive) of this label makes it unlikely to be a cost effective screening tool for early diagnosis of AD. The presence of A? plaques in the retina of AD mice models and in humans with AD was recently reported opening the possibility of detecting this AD hallmark though a simple non-invasive eye scan. The proposed project aims to explore this avenue with the development of new algorithms to detect A? plaques on retina images taken from a multi-spectral, fluorescent fundus imaging device.

Faculty Supervisor:

Frederic Lesage

Student:

Partner:

Optina Diagnostics

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

École Polytechnique de Montréal

Program: