Core Facility for Neurology Biomarker Innovation

Brain diseases are phenomenally challenging to diagnose and treat. Unlike cancer, where biopsy specimens are routinely collected, brain disorders lack routine access to specimens that are essential to understand pathophysiology and develop treatments. Accordingly, most brain diseases are managed using subjective clinical assessments that require patients to have active signs and symptoms, or use expensive neuroimaging that is associated with long wait times and requires patients to travel to sites with neuroimaging infrastructure, or invasive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis that requires specialist access. New technologies that enable brain-derived substances to be measured in blood samples are poised to transform the field of neurology across out-patient to intensive care applications. In the near future, fluid biomarker tests are expected to become essential tools for the diagnosis and management of many brain disorders.