Upbeat220 proteins, 60,000 blood samples, one goal: catch dementia and Parkinson's at their very first whisper
By the time dementia or Parkinson's shows its face, the disease has usually been at work for years. A new UK Biobank programme aims to listen earlier. Led by Nightingale Health, researchers will analyse 220 brain-health proteins in blood samples from 60,000 UK Biobank participants, using a highly sensitive test from Alamar Biosciences that can detect proteins at extremely low concentrations. The programme is funded by Alzheimer's Research UK, LifeArc and other backers, and — in the spirit that makes Biobank powerful — the resulting data will be opened to approved researchers worldwide from 2027. More than a million people in the UK live with Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Parkinson's and related conditions; a blood signal that appears years before symptoms would change what trials can test and what doctors can offer.
SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program