New thesis on the evaluation of new markers for diagnosing dementia disorders
Hello Konstantinos Chiotis, PhD student at the Division of Translational Alzheimer Neurobiology. You are about to defend your thesis on 5 December, what is the main focus of your research?
"The focus of the thesis is the evaluation of new markers that can be incorporated in the clinic for the early and accurate diagnosis of dementia disorders. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, is characterized by the build-up of two abnormal proteins in the brains of the affected patients, namely amyloid-beta and tau. We aimed, therefore, to test the use of a new imaging technique to detect tau protein in patients’ brains while they are alive.”
Which are the most important results?
“Our results indicate that we can image the presence and build-up of tau in the living Alzheimer’s brain in relation to changes in other markers of the disease. Moreover, by mapping the pattern of tau in the brain of different individuals we were able to differentiate between normal elderly, patients with Alzheimer’s disease or patients with other dementia syndromes.”
How can this new knowledge contribute to the improvement of people’s health?
"The addition of tau imaging in the research toolbox against dementia syndromes will enhance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that lead to dementia. Moreover, the incorporation of markers like tau imaging in the clinical assessment of patients with cognitive complaints could lead to an accurate diagnosis and appropriate management of the patients”.
What´s in the future for you? Will you keep on conducting research?
I am planning to continue my research as a part time researcher, while working clinically as a physician at the Karolinska University Hospital, Solna.
Thesis
Molecular imaging of tau in the pathological cascade of Alzheimer’s disease
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