Current Projects
ONGOING PROJECTS
Digital Phenotyping of Brain Health (AHA SFRN Project 1) – [Ongoing Data Collection]
This study aims to develop a robust digital technology platform that will allow for extensive longitudinal data collection and remote monitoring of various lifestyle factors related to brain health. The platform is participant-driven and includes smartphone applications, wearable devices, and in-home sensors. The digital data collected from these technologies will then be compared to the clinical data collected during participants’ annual evaluations at the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center (BU ADC) to gain insight into trends and possible indicators of Alzheimer’s disease dementia. This project is also collaborating with Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) and Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Foundation (ADDF) who are providing a set of technologies within our dynamic digital platform.
Eligibility: Participants must be enrolled in the BU Alzheimer’s Disease Center’s Health Outreach Program for the Elderly (HOPE) or the BU Alzheimer’s Disease Center’s Registry. They must also be at least 40 years of age and have the ability to read, write, and speak English with proficiency. Eligible participants cannot have a implanted medical device such as a pacemaker or a defibrillator or be currently pregnant.
Futurizing Brain Health Monitoring Platform (AHA SFRN Project 2) – [Enrolling]
This study aims to expand beyond the Digital Phenotyping of Brain Health’s digital platform by testing out new and emerging technologies. This will act as a feasibility study where we will make determinations on which technologies could be implemented in the Digital Phenotyping of Brain Health platform in the future. Participants will be enrolled for four years and will conduct monthly study visits with a staff member. We are committed to recruiting participants from underrepresented backgrounds in research to get more diverse perspectives on novel technologies.
Eligibility: Participants must be at least 40 years of age, live in the greater Boston area, fluent in English, own a smartphone, computer, or tablet, have internet access at home, and be willing to participate in monthly check-ins (primarily in-person, but remote if necessary) at the BU Medical School campus. They also cannot have a implanted medical device such as a pacemaker or a defibrillator or be currently pregnant. If you are interested in enrolling as a participant, please contact us.
Data Sharing and Analyzing (AHA SFRN Project 3) – [Ongoing Analysis]
This project encompasses the collaborative efforts to analyze the data being collected at the Digital Phenotyping of Brain Health study. We are in the process to harmonizing our data sets in order for them to be uploaded onto several data-sharing platforms including the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative’s (ADDI) AD Curation Studio and the AHA Precision Medicine Platform. Through these efforts, we hope to share our multi-modal digital data with other researchers to maximize scientific discovery. We have also started analyzing the data ourselves with the clinical data collected at the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center in order to begin the process of validating our measurements and finding possible indicators of Alzheimer’s disease dementia.
Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Foundation Speech Consortium (SpeechDx) – [Ongoing]
As a follow-up to our pilot study, we have now fully implemented the ADDF Speech Consortium (SpeechDx) platform within our Digital Phenotyping cohort. Participants are provided with a smart tablet to complete a set of uniform speech-based tasks every three months for three years. The goal of the project is to obtain a harmonized set of speech samples from clinically characterized participants to evaluate speech and language biomarkers as a measure of Alzheimer’s disease progression through the use of repeated, longitudinal assessments.
Eligibility: Participants must be at least 40 years of age, have internet access at home, and already enrolled in the BU Alzheimer’s Disease Center’s Health Outreach Program for the Elderly (HOPE). Participants also cannot have a history of severe traumatic brain injury, severe depression, stroke, brain tumors and/or significant and uncorrected vision or hearing impairment.
UPCOMING PROJECTS
Boston Medical Center Wellsense Project – [Upcoming]
Current research demonstrates that dementia is associated with increased rates and poorer outcomes of hospitalization, including worsening cognitive status. Four main health problems that lead to hospitalizations are behavioral disturbances resulting from delirium, falls and their accompanying injuries, respiratory infection, and urinary tract infection. Preceding causes of these adverse health events include the misuse of medication, electrolyte disturbances, sleeping problems, and infection, some of which may be able to be treated in the home rather than require an emergency department visit. Digital technologies, such as wearable devices, smartphone applications, and external sensors, offer a potentially viable solution to detect physiological markers of impending health problems that precipitate hospitalization at a minimal burden to the patient and the caregiver. Working with the WellSense cohort and its larger affiliate, the Boston Medical Center, we will focus on finding these Integrated Care Systems (ICS) solutions that are best suited to serve this patient population.
Eligibility: Participants must already be enrolled in the BMC Wellsense cohort.
The Remote Application of Digital Technology in the Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF) Brain Donation Program Cohort – [Upcoming]
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with exposure to repetitive head impacts (RHI), like those sustained during American football. At this time, CTE can only be clinically diagnosed post-mortem. Using noninvasive technologies that collect digital health metrics, this study hopes to address both the detection and monitoring of chronic TBI symptoms. The primary aim of this study is to use smartphone applications to characterize the clinical presentation of a large cohort of living individuals with exposure to RHI who are already enrolled in the CLF brain donation program, the majority of whom have a history of head injuries. This study will further our ability to diagnose CTE during life and differentiate it from other related neurodegenerative disorders (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease).
Eligibility: Participants must already be enrolled in the CLF brain donation program.
PAST PROJECTS
Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Foundation (ADDF) Pilot Study– [Concluded]
This pilot study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of a uniform longitudinal data set of recorded speech-based tests and cohort retention. Using a tablet-based platform that uses new and emerging cognitive assessments, the ADDF Pilot Study aims to obtain a set of speech samples to evaluate speech and language biomarkers as a measure of disease progression through the use of repeated, longitudinal, monthly measurements. These measurements will be done both in-clinic at the start of the study and remotely by participants for 3 months.
Eligibility: One in-person study visit, and three at-home assessments with a tablet. Must live in the greater Boston area or New England and be willing to drive to Boston for the first visit. Must be at least 40 years of age.
COVID Brain Health Study – [Concluded]
There is increasing evidence of neurological and psychological deficits in individuals who have experienced COVID-19 which can last for months following infection. The goal of this remote study is to understand the effect of COVID-19 on the brain by characterizing the trajectory of cognition among those infected by COVID-19, compared to those who have not experienced COVID-19. The study involves smartphone applications that measure thinking, memory and mood through task performance and voice recordings.
Eligibility: Participants must be at least 18 years of age and can participate regardless of whether they have ever tested positive for COVID-19.
Clinical Applications of Digital Technology in AD Dementia (ADC) – [Concluded]
This remote study involves completing brief a smartphone application at a high frequency over a 12-month period. The application contains three short memory and thinking tasks and takes about 5 minutes to complete. The goal of the study is to determine whether the digital information collected from this application can provide insights related to the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease dementia and what frequency of assessments is most sensitive to changes in cognition.
Eligibility: Must already be enrolled in the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center’s (BU ADC) Hi-Frequency Cohort and identify as cognitively normal or as having Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
Evidation AD Biomarker Study – [Concluded]
The primary goal of this study is to find information that can be collected from digital devices (smartphones, watches, sleep trackers) and at-home active tasks (performed on tablets) that may detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. The findings of this study may also be used to support future product development.