In this episode of PanaCME Perspectives: Clinical conversations in Alzheimer’s disease, Dr Harrison is joined by Professor Craig Ritchie and Dr Amanda Heselgrave to discuss one of the most exciting yet misunderstood areas in Alzheimer’s disease today: blood-based biomarkers.

They explore:

• What available blood tests, such as p-tau217 and p-tau181, can actually tell us, and what they can’t
• How these tests could transform patient pathways, triage, and waiting lists
• Real‑world case scenarios showing when and how blood biomarkers should be used, and how they should be interpreted

Along the way, they tackle overhype, the limits of current therapies, brain health and Alzheimer’s disease prevention, and why we may need a completely new medical specialty.

Guests:

Professor Craig Ritchie: Professor Ritchie is the Professor of Brain Health and Neurodegenerative Medicine at the University of St Andrews and is the Founder and CEO of Scottish Brain Sciences, which aims to accelerate the development of diagnostics and therapeutics for early-stage neurodegenerative disease. One of his key research interests is the interface between clinical trials and translational epidemiology, and some of his recent work has focused on implementation strategies for AD blood-based biomarkers.

Dr Amanda Heslegrave: Dr Heslegrave is Principal Research Fellow at the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, where she co-leads the fluid biomarker (Zetterberg) laboratory and the UK Dementia Research Institute Biomarker Factory, which aims to transform the early detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of dementia by facilitating the development of fluid biomarkers.

Host: Dr John Harrison

Dr John Harrison is a chartered psychologist at Metis Cognition, where he advises drug developers and institutions on cognitive testing in therapeutic development programmes. He is an Associate Professor at the Alzheimer’s Center Amsterdam, where he validates new cognitive testing paradigms for use with individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease.

To watch the full video episode, and for more independent educational resources from PanaCME, visit: www.panacme.education.