Study aims to find early biomarkers of degenerative brain disease
Project testing 80,000 blood samples could boost Parkinson's, Alzheimer's research
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- A new study aims to identify early blood biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's.
- The project will analyze 80,000 blood samples to detect proteins associated with brain health changes.
- Findings will provide a global research resource to improve early diagnosis and future treatment development.
Alamar Biosciences and Nightingale Health have partnered with the UK Biobank to launch a study to identify early blood biomarkers for neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.
Called UK Biobank Proteomics for Risk Identification and Signatures of brain health in Midlife, the study will measure hundreds of proteins in 80,000 blood samples from UK Biobank participants. It combines Alamar’s highly sensitive NULISA protein-detection technology with Nightingale’s laboratory infrastructure and UK Biobank’s extensive health data.
The study is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, with the resulting data set made available to approved researchers worldwide through the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform.
Supported by Alzheimer’s Research UK, LifeArc, and other funding partners, the project aims to develop a resource to investigate the biology of neurodegenerative diseases. The findings could help identify candidate biomarkers for further validation and guide future studies into earlier diagnosis and potential treatments.
“By combining large-scale protein measurements with UK Biobank’s extensive health data, this study will give researchers a valuable resource to investigate the biological changes behind neurodegenerative diseases,” Sam Barrell, CEO of LifeArc, said in a press release. “This could help build a better understanding of these conditions and lay the groundwork for more accurate diagnosis in the future.”
Early identification of disease-related changes a research priority
Neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, involve the progressive dysfunction and loss of nerve cells, leading to worsening problems with movement, memory, thinking, and other neurological functions. The biological processes underlying these conditions may begin long before noticeable symptoms emerge, making early identification of disease-related changes an important research priority.
Blood-based biomarkers could help researchers detect these changes through a relatively accessible method. However, many proteins that may signal early neurodegeneration circulate at very low levels, making them difficult to measure accurately using conventional techniques.
“For decades, the earliest biology of neurodegeneration has been out of reach in blood because the proteins that matter most are present in such small amounts. NULISA was designed to change that,” said Yuling Luo, PhD, Alamar’s founder, CEO, and chair. “Working with Nightingale and UK Biobank, we can now measure those signals across tens of thousands of people, years before symptoms appear, and give researchers everywhere a new way to ask when and why these diseases begin.”
Platform designed to detect proteins at very low concentrations
Researchers will investigate how protein patterns relate to brain health and neurodegenerative disease, with the goal of identifying early molecular signatures that could support future research into disease risk, diagnosis, and treatment.
Alamar’s NULISA platform is designed to detect proteins at very low concentrations, using antibodies and DNA-based signals to identify and quantify target proteins, which enables sensitive measurement of multiple biomarkers in a sample.
Nightingale Health will conduct laboratory analyses using this platform. The company has already generated metabolomic data — measurements of small molecules involved in metabolism — for all 500,000 UK Biobank participants. Adding protein measurements will expand the biological information available for the cohort.
Identifying disease risk years before symptoms appear is the foundation of preventive healthcare, and studies like this show it can be done at the scale that real impact requires.
This protein data will be analyzed alongside UK Biobank’s extensive genetic, imaging, metabolomic, lifestyle, and health information. This combination could help scientists investigate relationships between molecular changes, individual risk factors, and the development of neurological diseases.
“This study reflects what Nightingale has built: a laboratory platform that delivers high-quality blood biomarker data at population scale,” said Teemu Suna, Nightingale’s founder and CEO. “Identifying disease risk years before symptoms appear is the foundation of preventive healthcare, and studies like this show it can be done at the scale that real impact requires.”
Making the data set available to approved researchers worldwide will also allow independent teams to explore additional questions about brain health and disease development.
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