Imaging Software of Functional Connectivity MRI for Alzheimer's Disease

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant This application andquot Imaging Software of Functional Connectivity MRI for Alzheimerandapos s Diseaseandquot is written in response to PA andquot Lab to Marketplace Tools for Brain and Behavioral Research SBIR R R andquot Alzheimerandapos s disease AD is the most common form of dementia However developing drugs that effectively slow or alter the course of Alzheimerandapos s disease has proven to be notoriously difficult Academic and pharmaceutical scientists believe that a large part of the problem is that they are testing these drugs at the late stage in the progression of the disease when damage to the brain is too severe to make intervention effective Therefore commercial AD biomarkers for early detection are of paramount importance in analyzing disease progression yielding an accurate diagnosis and providing efficacy assessment following treatment in clinical trials and drug discovery The goal of this SBIR Phase II application is to commercialize innovative neuroimaging technology tool called Resting state functional connectivity MRI R fcMRI for the marketplace based on a decade of Alzheimerandapos s research progress supported by the National Institues of Health in the laboratory of Shi Jiang Li Ph D and Alzheimerandapos s Disease NeuroImaging Initiative ADNI program and other neuroimaging labs We will retrospectively and prospectively collect R fcMRI imaging datasets from national and international multicenter studies to validate our commercial BS GFC software product in order to provide a robust and reliable biomarker for assisting in the prediction of AD onset diagnosis and assessment of treatment efficacy PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Alzheimerandapos s disease AD is the most common form of dementia As many as million Americans are suffering from Alzheimer disease AD and it costs the country around $ billion a year to provide care Today it is the sixth leading cause of death and is expected to rise as the Baby Boomer generation ages That figure is expected to balloon worldwide in the coming decades However it has been notoriously difficult to develop drugs that effectively slow or alter the course of Alzheimerandapos s disease because of the lack of commercial AD biomarkers that have the potential for early disease detection accurate diagnosis and efficacy assessment in following treatment in clinical trials and drug discovery The goal of this SBIR Phase II application is commercializing innovative neuroimaging technology tools called Resting state functional connectivity MRI R fcMRI for the marketplace based on a decade of research progress in Alzheimerandapos s disease research supported by the National Institue of Aging a division of the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Si Jiang Li Ph D and renewed Alzheimerandapos s Disease NeuroImaging Initiative ADNI program and other neuroimaging labs We will retrospectively and prospectively collect MRI fcMRI imaging datasets from national and international multicenter studies to validate our commercial BS GFC software product in order to provide a robust and reliable biomarker for assisting in the prediction of AD onset diagnosis and assessment of treatment efficacy