Researchers at the University of Dundee will lead a £1.3m project to establish if an eye test can be used to reveal the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The three-year study will use Vessel Assessment and Measurement Platform for images of the Retina (Vampire) software to analyse high-definition images of the eye from multiple instruments to establish whether such changes can act as an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.
The project builds on the success of the Vampire software joint initiative with the University of Edinburgh, designed to help ascertain how changes in the vasculature of the eye may be linked to stroke, cardiovascular disease and genetics.
Coordinated by Emanuele Trucco, professor of computable vision at Dundee’s school of computing, the new study will cross-reference retinal measurements with medical history information.
‘If you can look into someone’s eyes using an inexpensive machine and discover something which may suggest a risk of developing dementia, then that’s a very interesting proposition. There is the promise of early warning in a non-invasive way and there is also the fact that we even might be able to use the test to differentiate between different types of dementia,’ he said.
The project is part of an £8m investment in dementia detection research at 11 UK universities by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council. Three post-doctoral positions and a part-time nurse at Ninewells would be fully funded in the Dundee project which begins in April 2015.