CNS-101
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility Study of the Cumulus Neuroscience Platform for In Home Data Collection
IRAS ID
305938
Contact name
Alison Buick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cumulus Neuroscience Limited
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether measurement of multiple neurocognitive functions can be done in home by people living with dementia, using new technologies. This approach is intended to enable more frequent measurement in a familiar, comfortable setting for people living with dementia, who otherwise would have to attend multiple, in-person clinic visits of lengthy duration. If feasible, this approach would allow for repeated measurements over time, with the potential to increase our understanding of disease progression and response to treatment. This could save time and costs on brain assessments, and ultimately accelerate the progress of clinical trials that are testing new therapies for dementia.
Over the course of one year, adults aged 50 – 90 years with a diagnosis of ‘mild’ or ‘early-stage’ dementia and a separate group of people aged 50 – 90 years who do not have dementia, will be asked to regularly use a suite of tablet and wearable based assessments at home – the Cumulus Platform.
The technology for use in this study consists of a mobile tablet which presents different tasks for measurement of thinking ability, a headset which collects brain signals (known as electroencephalography or EEG) during those tasks, and a different EEG headband that is worn overnight to measure brain activity during sleep. The feasibility of this approach will be assessed by considering how acceptable it is to the users, as well as assessing the quality of the data obtained and looking at group-level differences. Additionally, data collected during the study over the course of one year will be compared to the conventional ‘gold-standard’ brain function assessments in order to understand how this new, in-home approach to data collection compares against the more typical, standard assessments.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0830
Date of REC Opinion
8 Nov 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion