Dr Joanne Rodda, Senior Lecturer at KMMS, and Consultant Psychiatrist at the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) and Professor Lisa Dikomitis, Director of Research at KMMS and Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies and Honorary Consultant in Patient and Public Engagement at KMPT, worked with Professor Jonathan Schott and Dr Ashvini Keshavan at the National Hospital for Neurology and University College London (UCL) as co-applicants for a successful £4 million grant to fund a study of the application of a blood biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease in routine clinical practice.

This is in response to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Blood Biomarker Challenge, a collaborative project between researchers at UCL and Dementias Platform UK, based at the University of Oxford.

At present, many dementia diagnoses are non-specific, inaccurate or delayed due to lack of clear diagnostic evidence. Blood biomarkers have the potential to replace expensive and usually inaccessible diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. They are cheap and fast and research to date suggests that they are very accurate.

Dr Rodda will support the design and delivery of the research in memory clinics across the UK, with Kent as a lead site. Professor Dikomitis will lead on involving patients and stakeholders in designing the research study and understanding the patient experience of blood biomarker testing. The study has the support of the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board and will involve multiple partners across the UK.

Commenting on the project Dr Joanne Rodda said: “It is likely that new blood biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease will allow us to make specific diagnoses in most patients, at an earlier stage. They will also allow us to identify which patients are likely to benefit from disease modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, when such treatments become available.”

Professor Lisa Dikomitis said: “The Kent researchers will be leading on the patient and public involvement and engagement in this ground-breaking dementia research. We are strongly committed to ensure that patients are at the forefront, and are actively involved in every aspect of this study.”