Diagnostic tool for schizophrenia using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)

Unmet Need: Reliable tool for diagnosing schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is often diagnosed by a combination of observing behavioral symptoms and running tests which may rule out other conditions. The lack of biomarkers or reliable diagnostic tests makes diagnosing schizophrenia particularly difficult and can lead to misdiagnosis.

The Technology: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy diagnostic tool for schizophrenia

This technology describes a tool which uses magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to diagnose schizophrenia based on metabolite changes in the brain. Schizophrenic individuals have elevated levels of glutamate and glutamine which, among other metabolites, can be detected by MRS. The spectrum data obtained from MRS of a subject’s brain is processed by a trained machine learning model to estimate frequency and phase corrections to then quantify metabolites and aid in the diagnosis of schizophrenia and related disorders.

Applications:

Diagnostic tool for schizophrenia
Tool to quantify metabolites including GABA, glutamate, and glutamine in a patient’s brain
Computational model for magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)-based diagnostics
Diagnostic tool for other neuropsychiatric disorders
Tool for measuring response to schizophrenia treatment

Advantages:

Quantitative diagnostic tool
Directly measures metabolite biomarkers raised in patients with schizophrenia
Non-invasive technique

Lead Inventor:

Scott A. Small, MD

Patent Information:

Patent Pending(WO/2022/221760)

Related Publications:

Tech Ventures Reference:

IR CU21216, CU21363, CU22166
Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka