PROVO, Utah – More than 5 million people in the United States are impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, and a local company is teaming up with researchers at Brigham Young University to improve early diagnosis and treatment for the disease.
Reid Robison is the CEO of Tute Genomics, and he and his company have developed a computer application designed to help doctors and other researchers understand their patients on a more basic, genetic level.
The company is working with researchers at BYU to better understand the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease.
"BYU and Dr. Kauwe and his group have done some amazing things in Alzheimer’s already and discovered a number of new findings implicated in Alzheimer’s, and that's the first step towards developing new treatments,” Robison said.
The platform the company developed is part of what they call a genomics revolution.
“Pretty soon everyone will get their genome sequenced, and we’re working on making that data useful for new discoveries and for more personalized healthcare treatment,” Robison said.
Robison and others envision a future where doctors can observe a patients genetic makeup in order to provide a treatment better tailored to the patient.
“With all these genomes being sequenced, we can now look for genes that are associated with diseases, which hopefully will lead to more treatments,” Robison said. “New drugable genetic targets.”
And Robison said the project has a personal connection for him and others who have watched loved ones suffer.
"My grandfather died of Alzheimer's, and so it gets personal for me wanting to support this cause to better understand the genetics of Alzheimer’s, the neurobiology, and to work towards treatments for Alzheimer's disease,” he said.
