2023 Strategic Grant (SG)

The Alzheimer’s Association quality control (QC) program for CSF and plasma biomarkers - Continuation

Kaj Blennow
University of Gothenburg, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology
Gothenburg, Sweden

Scientists have developed ways to measure multiple Alzheimer’s-related biological markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging can show levels of the proteins amyloid and tau, which accumulate abnormally as the hallmark “plaques” and “tangles” of the disease, respectively. Widely available, precise, reliable and stable biomarker measurement tools would serve as the basis for a more general use of fluid biomarkers in standard medical practice. To this end, the Alzheimer’s Association launched its Quality Control (QC) Program in 2009 that brings together over 125 laboratories across 28 countries in North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe with the goal of standardizing and improving the quality of Alzheimer's biomarker measurement in blood and CSF.