Diagnostics Accelerator: Digital Biomarkers Program Grant

Diagnostics Accelerator: Digital Biomarkers Program Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Alzheimers Drug Discovery Foundation
Last Updated: April 30, 2025

Summary

The Diagnostics Accelerator: Digital Biomarkers Program seeks to enhance Alzheimer's diagnosis through innovative digital solutions. By combining philanthropic support from leaders like Bill Gates and Leonard A. Lauder, the initiative aims to develop affordable biomarker tests and digital platforms. These efforts will improve understanding of disease progression and streamline clinical trials, ultimately contributing to effective treatments. The program prioritizes accessible technologies like wearables and mobile apps to monitor cognitive health, while encouraging collaboration across various research sectors.

Overview

Diagnostics Accelerator The path to approved Alzheimer's treatments starts with a better way to diagnose patients. Bill Gates and ADDF Co-Founder Leonard A. Lauder partnered to adopt a new approach that brings together philanthropic capital with a venture mindset to advance bold ideas for easier, more accurate, and earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Currently available tests for Alzheimer's are expensive and invasive. The development of reliable and affordable biomarker tests for Alzheimer’s— just as cholesterol is an early biomarker for heart disease risk— has the potential to revolutionize how we approach the disease. Biomarkers will allow us to better understand how the disease progresses, improve clinical trial design, and more accurately monitor response to treatments. All are critical to the development of effective drugs for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s. Launched in July 2018, the Diagnostics Accelerator has mobilized commitments totaling $100 million from Bill Gates, Leonard A. Lauder, Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), Eli Lilly & Company, Biogen, the Shanahan Family Foundation, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, and others. Diagnostics Accelerator Digital Biomarkers Program Funding Priorities Platforms: A variety of digital platforms such as portables, sensors, or software are encouraged. The proposed platform should have the potential to be easily deployed at scale. Passive approaches to data collection are encouraged. Examples of digital approaches include, but are not limited to: Wearables devices (e.g., smart watch)Mobile/tablet appsSmart home systemsVirtual and augmented reality platformsDesktop/web apps The following is out of scope for this RFP: Diagnostic hardware for traditional digital imaging platforms (e.g. optical coherence tomography, neuroimaging)Proposals focused on speech and language biomarkers Note: The DxA is currently developing a speech and language biomarker consortium. Proposals outside this effort will not be considered at this time. Symptom Domains: The RFP encourages digital biomarkers emerging from one or more of the symptom domains below. Proposed approaches will be evaluated based on the existing evidence around the biological link of the symptom domain to disease and how measuring the proposed symptom domain will improve current screening or monitoring methods in patients. Symptom domains of interest include, but are not limited to: Cognition (e.g. memory, processing speed, executive function, or geolocation)Activities of Daily Living (instrumental basic activities or higher order activities)Motor function (e.g. gait, body motion, or fine motor skills including tapping, swiping, and tracing on touchscreens)Sensory Acuity (e.g. hearing, smell)Affect (e.g. mood, facial expression)Sleep Patterns and CharacteristicsOculomotor (e.g. eye movement)Pain AssessmentAutonomic Nervous Function (e.g. heart rate, galvanic skin response) Combinations of these or other symptom domains with a clear link to the disease are also encouraged.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Funding is open to researchers and clinicians worldwide at:Academic medical centers and universities or nonprofitsFor profit companies. Existing companies and new spinouts are both eligible.