Purdue researchers develop early detection for concussions, dementia

WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue researchers discovered a way to improve early-stage detection for concussions as well as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. 

Purdue engineering professors Jeffrey Rhoads, George Chui and Eric Nauman are part of a research team that created vibrating sensors that can detect a countless number of diseases and infections by using a drop or two of blood. 

"We're trying to come up with a diagnostic tool ... that allows you to use less fluid," Rhoads said. 

One of the ways the sensors can be used is by detecting concussions in athletes. 

The goal of the vibrating sensors is to detect changes in mass, Rhoads said. 

A person who experiences a traumatic brain injury would show higher levels of protein in cerebrospinal fluid, which, according to a Purdue news release, prior studies show that the fluid can leak and get into the bloodstream. 

“Essentially the idea is that if you can measure anything that passes through the blood-brain barrier from the brain into the blood, it's a problem because it should stay in the brain,” Nauman said in the news release. 

By using the vibrating sensors, early detection will be faster and less expensive than other methods, Rhoads said. 

The sensors would be so less expensive, Rhoads said in the news release, that a high school athletic team could do several mass screenings a season. 

Concussions currently are diagnosed by several different tests, beginning with verbal questions and then some more cognitive tests. They later can be detected by an MRI. 

"This will be much more cost-efficient," Rhoads said. "That's more attractive than going to a hospital to get an MRI." 

One of the long-term goals is to test the sensors on athletes in the near future. 

The researchers have filed a patent application through the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization.