New Tests and Brain Scans for Predicting Alzheimer’s
Scientist’s brainstorm transforms dementia-risk testing (Portnews.Au)
Summary: Neurologist Jane Alty, recruited by the University of Tasmania in 2019, observed that dementia patients in a clinic waiting room showed Parkinson’s-like movement changes, leading to a controversial theory that dementia begins with movement alterations before memory symptoms. Collaborating with computer scientist Quan Bai and others, her team developed TAS Test, an AI-powered two-minute remote test using a smartphone or laptop camera to detect dementia risk up to two decades early. Since 2019, the test has collected data from more than 6,000 participants aged 40–92 across Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, and could be publicly available as soon as 2027. The team is a finalist in the 2026 Australian Museum Eureka Prize.
Why it matters: The source explicitly states that 45 per cent of dementia cases are preventable through lifestyle and medical risk factors, and the test aims to detect dementia risk in midlife so higher-risk people can make changes sooner, similar to cancer screening.
Context: The test’s development began as a PhD student project with no resources or funding, and involved seven years of pilot testing, user feedback, and large-scale data collection by a multidisciplinary team spanning health, dementia research, and artificial intelligence.
Date: August 29, 2026 05:30 PM ET
URL: https://portnews.com.au/story/9339880/scientists-brainstorm-transforms-dementia-risk-testing
Generated Analysis Tone: Negative (80%)
Source Registry Score: 10.0/10 — High
Generated text and tone describe the analysis; the source registry score is not a factual truth rating.Post ID: af61b9d7