A Novel Biosensor for Detecting Neurodegenerative Disease Proteins

upstart writes:

A novel biosensor for detecting neurodegenerative disease proteins:

By combining multiple advanced technologies into a single system, EPFL researchers have made a significant step forward in diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

This novel device is known as the ImmunoSEIRA sensor, a biosensing technology that enables the detection and identification of misfolded protein biomarkers associated with NDDs. The research, published in Science Advances, also harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) by employing neural networks to quantify disease stages and progression.

This significant technological advance holds promise not only for early detection and monitoring of NDDs, but also for assessing treatment options at various stages of the disease's progression.

[...] It is hypothesized that healthy proteins misfold first into oligomers in early stages and into fibrils in later stages of the disease. These misfolded protein aggregates circulate in the brain and biofluids and also accumulate as deposits in the brains of deceased NDD sufferers. But the development of tools to detect these tell-tale signs of disease-known as biomarkers-has remained elusive until now. The hurdles to accurate detection are multiple, including limits of current technology to accurately separate and quantify different protein aggregates.Combing multiple advanced technologies into one sensor

[...] "Unlike current biochemical approaches which rely on measuring the levels of these molecules, our approach is focused on detecting their abnormal structures. This technology also allows us to differentiate the levels of the two main abnormal forms implicated in the development and progression of NDDs, oligomers and fibrils," says Lashuel

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