Using nanotechnology to detect Alzheimer´s disease

A project led by DTU Nanotech has received 9M Euro from the FP7 programme to develop a lab-on-a-chip to be used for detecting neurodegenerative diseases.

The goal of the project is to develop a miniaturised detection system for routine screening that can detect whether the patient, at a later stage, is likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer´s disease or Parkinson´s disease. Miniaturized systems offer advantages over big laboratories as they allow more sensitive tests to be done with much smaller samples, thus making it possible to perform more frequent and more widespread screenings.

Among the 18 project partners are the French Marie Curie Institute, the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, as well as four small technology-based companies that will participate in the development and later commercially exploit the results.

In the EU, more than 7 million people are currently diagnosed with dementia, mostly Alzheimer´s disease, resulting in a total annual cost of approximately 160 billion EURO (Alzheimer Europe) for the health care systems. With the ageing European population these numbers are expected to grow significantly.

Project partners:

DTU Nanotech, Denmark

Université Paris-Sud XI, France

Univerzita Pardubice, Czech Rep.

Ustav Makromolekularni Chemie, Czech Rep.

Institut Curie, France

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France

Universität Ulm, Germany

Universitätsklinikum Essen, Germany

DiagnoSwiss SA, Switzerland

Fluigent SA, France

Moravian-Biotechnology, Czech Rep.

Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Sweden

Itä-Suomen Yliopisto, Finland

Instituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento Moleculare, Italy

Institut Catalá de Nanotecnologia, Spain

Association pour la Recherche et le Développement, France

Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, France

Rambøll AS, Denmark