As part of the NEURii initiative, data scientists and clinical researchers will use brain scans from the entire Scottish population to build a software tool that they hope will be able to predict a person’s risk of dementia.
The project, called Scottish AI in Neuroimaging to predict Dementia and Neurodegenerative Disease (SCAN-DAN), is one of three ‘pathfinders’ from global research collaboration NEURii, which launched a year ago. Comprising global pharmaceutical company Eisai, Gates Ventures, the University of Edinburgh, Health Data Research UK and medical research charity LifeArc, NEURii aims to translate world-class data, neurology and digital sciences into projects that can enhance quality of life for people living with dementia.
Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee will use artificial intelligence and Machine Learning to analyse a large data set of 1.6 million CT and MRI brain scan images, alongside linked health records, from patients in Scotland from 2008 to 2018 to find patterns that could indicate a person’s risk of developing dementia representing 1.6 million images.
Co-lead of the SCAN-DAN project Professor Will Whiteley, Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and an Associate Director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre, said: “Working with NEURii really gives us the potential for patient impact – to build something that actually makes it into practice. Often modelling doesn’t go anywhere, but motivation from the NEURii team to develop a useful product really concentrates the mind!”
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