Amyloid diagnostics with single-molecule sensitivity

Every 3.2 seconds an individual becomes affected by dementia, a heart-breaking condition that changes a person to the extent that they are losing touch with reality and their independence. Worldwide, there are 9.9 million new dementia patients each year and in around 6 million cases the underlying cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease (AD). In addition, it is estimated that about 20-50 % of people living with AD remain undiagnosed.
Despite intensive effort, there are to date no effective, reliable, and affordable methods for early AD diagnosis and the disease is established after cognitive symptoms appear, at a stage when the disease has progressed to the extent that considerable and irreversible degenerative changes have occurred in the brain.


Our vision


Our vision is to eradicate Alzheimer's disease from the list of incurable diseases by bringing our innovative quantitative analytical method with single-molecule sensitivity to healthcare for pre-symptomatic disease diagnosis.


Our solution


We have invented a blood-based non-immune method that can detect pathological structured protein aggregates (so-called amyloid nano-plaques) with the ultimate single-molecule sensitivity and measure their concentration and size. Our method is: minimally invasive – it is based on blood sample analysis; rapid – results can be obtained within minutes after sample collection; easy to use – plug-and-play instrument with minimal staff training is needed; safe – contrast injection is not needed; environmentally friendly – it is based on a safety approved, non-radioactive substance; cost-effective – it can be used in general healthcare to identify individuals at risk and in patient surveillance, to monitor disease progression and the efficacy of therapeutic interventions.


Our team

Our dedicated management team brings with enthusiasm, experience, and expertise new solutions to old-age-related health problems.

AmyloiDia Sweden AB Steering Board. From the left: Lars Terenius, Ann Tiiman, Vladana Vukojević, Jüri Jarvet, Rudolf Rigler, Astrid Gräslund and Sebastian Wärmländer. Missing: Johann Rigler.


Our story

2015

Researchers from Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University non-disruptively monitor the turnover of intermediates during amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide aggregation in solution, simultaneously following the change in aggregate concentration and size over time:

Tiiman A, Jarvet J, Gräslund A, Vukojević V.
Heterogeneity and Turnover of Intermediates during Amyloid-β (Aβ) Peptide Aggregation Studied by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy.
Biochemistry 2015 54(49): 7203-11 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.5b00976).

2017

Application in biological fluids was successfully developed and proof-of-concept measurements in blood serum, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), urine and saliva were performed.

Priority Patent Application was filed on the discovery of a method for the diagnosis of amyloid-associated diseases (British Priority Application No 1805466.8).

2019

International Patent Application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was filed on the discovery of a method for the diagnosis of amyloid-associated diseases (No. PCT/EP2019/058206).

Methodological proof-of-concept study published, showing in clinical blood serum samples that the concentration and size of amyloid aggregates can be successfully measured in blood serum using our methodology:

Tiiman A, Jelić V, Jarvet J, Järemo P, Bogdanović N, Rigler R, Terenius L, Gräslund A, Vukojević V.
Amyloidogenic Nanoplaques in Blood Serum of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease Revealed by Time-Resolved Thioflavin T Fluorescence Intensity Fluctuation Analysis.
Journal of Alzheimer's disease: JAD 2019 68(2): 571-582 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-181144).

Instrumentation advancement by massive parallelization was published:

Krmpot AJ, Nikolić SN, Oasa S, Papadopoulos DK, Vitali M, Oura M, Mikuni S, Thyberg P, Tisa S, Kinjo M, Nilsson L, Terenius L, Rigler R, Vukojević V.
Functional Fluorescence Microscopy Imaging: Quantitative Scanning-Free Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy for the Characterization of Fast Dynamic Processes in Live Cells.
Analytical chemistry 2019 91(17): 11129-11137 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b01813)

AmyloiDia Sweden AB founded (2019-08-27).

2020

Method validation on clinical cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples and comparison with amyloid PET was published:

Aksnes M, Müller EG, Tiiman A, Edwin TH, Terenius L, Revheim ME, Vukojević V, Bogdanović N, Knapskog AB.
Amyloidogenic Nanoplaques in Cerebrospinal Fluid: Relationship to Amyloid Brain Uptake and Clinical Alzheimer's Disease in a Memory Clinic Cohort.
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease: JAD 2020 77(2): 831-842 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200237).

Patent transferred to AmyloiDia.

First services to an early adopter.

First equity investment.

National patent filing phase entered.


Support