Cumulus Neuroscience Announces New Research Collaboration

Cumulus Neuroscience Announces New Research Collaboration Cumulus Neuroscience, a global digital health company focused on advancing neuroscience clinical research and patient care through proprietary data, announced the launch of a major research collaboration with the Universities of Bath and Bristol on the development of Fastball electroencephalogram (EEG) test, an innovative diagnostic test for early detection of Alzheimer's disease. The project will enable the research team to develop and test the "Fastball EEG" developed by Dr. George Stothart, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath. The project is supported by a grant from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation (i4i) fund. Dr. Stothart will work in close collaboration with Cumulus throughout the process. Dr. Liz Coulthard, Associate Professor of Dementia Neurology at the University of Bristol and neurologist at North Bristol National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, is co-lead of the project. The long-term objective is to present Fastball EEG as a commercial product across the NHS in the UK and other markets where Cumulus will lead all commercialisation efforts. Fastball EEG is a completely non-invasive, passive 3-minute test in which an EEG headset is used to measure brain activity in patients as they watch a series of flashing images displayed on a tablet or smartphone screen. More importantly, as a passive test, it is not affected by performance anxiety levels, education level or language. Previous research by Dr. Stothart, Dr. Coulthard and colleagues has shown that Fastball is highly effective at capturing subtle, fine changes in brain waves that occur when a person recalls an image. They also demonstrated that this response changes when a person develops dementia, offering hope regarding its potential as a breakthrough for earlier diagnosis. Brian Murphy, PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cumulus, stated: "Today, many patients living with Alzheimer's dementia wait up to 20 years to be diagnosed. The pen and paper-based assessments currently used by doctors are limited because they lack the objective physiological data that only an EEG can provide. As a result, clinicians worldwide struggle to ensure diagnostic consistency across different patient populations and healthcare facilities. Fastball EEG has the potential to remove barriers to diagnosis for all patients regardless of ethnicity or education level, accelerate enrollment in clinical trials and bring much-needed treatments to patients and their loved ones more quickly. We are honoured to partner with the Universities of Bath and Bristol on this important work." Source