Alzheimer's

By  Jonah Comstock 03:07 pm April 25, 2019
Cognitive assessment app maker Savonix has raised $9.6 million in what the company is calling an extension of its 2017 $5.1 million Series A round. Along with its $1.5 million seed round, this brings the company's total funding to $16.2 million. New investors Fusion Fund and Wavemaker Partners led the round, with additional participation from new investor DEFTA Partners and existing investors ...
By  Dave Muoio 02:43 pm October 11, 2018
Optina Diagnostics, a Montreal-based company that uses spectral retinal imaging and artificial intelligence to scan for early Alzheimer’s disease, announced today that it has raised $4 million in seed funding. Zoic Capital led the round with participation from Desjardins Capital, DigitalDx Ventures, Pallasite Ventures, Barney Pell, Barney Pell's AngelList Syndicate, Advisors.fund and Hike...
By  Laura Lovett 01:20 pm May 10, 2018
Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease can be isolating, but researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI) Indianapolis have developed a Facebook “friendsourcing” app that is designed to help caregivers connect.  The app gives caregivers a support group on Facebook where they can pose emotional and informational questions. Members of the support group can then push those...
By  Jeff Lagasse 09:38 am August 23, 2017
A study led by researchers at Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision Imaging LLC provides a scientific basis for using noninvasive eye imaging to essentially detect signs of Alzheimer’s. The experimental technology, developed by Cedars-Sinai and NeuroVision, scans the retina using techniques that can identify beta-amyloid protein deposits that mirror those in the brain.   Accumulations of neurotoxic beta-...
By  Aditi Pai 02:19 pm April 7, 2016
Pfizer has partnered with IBM to develop a system that clinicians can use to treat patients who have Parkinson’s disease. The system will make use of sensors, mobile devices, and machine learning to provide clinicians and researchers with symptom information, which they will then use to better understand patient disease progression and medication response. It will also help inform treatment...
By  Aditi Pai 09:05 am April 29, 2015
Samsung has released an app for people with Alzheimer's called Backup Memory, which was developed by employees of Samsung Electronics Tunisia (SETN). SETN Marketing Manager for Mobile Products Azer Jaafoura led the project. “We wanted to make life easier for Alzheimer’s patients as well as their caretakers, but we were initially unsure of how to go about doing this,” Jaafoura said in a statement...
By  Aditi Pai 07:08 am March 3, 2015
Boston-based Akili Interactive Labs has partnered with Delivering Scientific Innovation for Autism (DELSIA), a not-for-profit subsidiary of Autism Speaks. DELSIA is funding an efficacy study of Akili's iOS-based game, called Project: EVO, with children that have high-functioning autism and ADHD. The trial will be a blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study "that will look to measure cognitive...
By  Aditi Pai 03:00 am January 9, 2014
Boston-based Akili Interactive Labs partnered with Pfizer to conduct a study of Akili's iOS-based game, Project Evo, in the hopes of using the game to detect indications of Alzheimer's in healthy individuals. The month-long study of 100 participants includes a mix of some who have risk markers of potentially developing Alzheimer's and some who do not. All participants will take the game home and...
By  Aditi Pai 11:20 am August 19, 2013
Last month, the CJE Senior Life (formerly Council for Jewish Elderly) and The Art Institute of Chicago launched an iPad app, Art in the Moment, to encourage conversation and engagement in older adults with cognitive disabilities. The app is an extension of their existing joint program, Art in the Moment. In 2008, NYU Center of Excellence for Brain Aging and Dementia released an evidence-based...
By  Chris Gullo 07:51 am October 24, 2011
Personal location services device manufacturer GTX announced that its GPS-enabled shoes, developed for tracking seniors with Alzheimers, will be released later this month in the US. Aetrex Worldwide will sell the shoes, which will retail for $299. The GPS-enabled shoe received FCC clearance in September. The tracking service will be powered by GTX's partners Omnilink and the MedicAlert Foundation...