speaker:
Dr. Cheryl Wellington is Professor and Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Djavad Mowafaghian Center for Brain Health, University of British Columbia. Dr. Wellington’s research interests include Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and neurology blood biomarkers. Dr. Wellington holds multiple leadership and executive positions in the dementia and neurotrauma communities, including the Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration in Aging, Cure Alzheimer Fund, the Canadian Traumatic Brain Injury Research Consortium, the Canadian Concussion Network, the International Initiative on Traumatic Brain Injury Research and is a member of the Global Biomarker Standardization Consortium.
OVERVIEW:
This lecture will discuss the emerging field of blood-based biomarkers for neurological conditions. The ultrasensitive immunoassay technologies used to quantify neurology biomarkers will be presented, following by presentation of normative data for plasma neurofilament light (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), two biomarkers with considerable potential for multiple contexts of use in several neurological conditions. Specific examples of clinical validation including leveraging normative data will be discussed.
learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1) Appreciate emerging technologies to perform neurology biomarker assays.
2) Appreciate the readiness state of neurology blood tests for use in Canada.
3) Appreciate the need to build capacity in this area of clinical chemistry.