Connect Sign InEvolving Biomarker Testing Landscape in Alzheimer’s Disease
This presentation provides a brief overview of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Emphasis will be placed on the role of CSF and blood-based biomarkers, including their incorporation into the Alzheimer’s Association's 2024 diagnostic framework. It concludes with a discussion of clinical performance characteristics for a plasma pTau 217 assay recently implemented in the clinical laboratory.
Dr. Heather Nelson is a medical director of Clinical Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry at ARUP Laboratories, and an assistant professor (clinical) at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah. She received her doctorate degree in cell and developmental biology from SUNY Upstate Medical University. She then completed fellowships in diabetes, endocrinology, and metabolism at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and in clinical chemistry from the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Nelson is a diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Chemistry and a member of the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM). She received the 2022 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting—First Place Student Oral Presentation Award, 2022 AACC SYCL Travel grant, 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting—Student Research Poster Award: honorable mention, and the 2021 ACLPS Paul E. Strandjord Young Investigator Award, Division and Academy abstract awards at the 2024 ADLM Annual Scientific Meeting for her research highlighting a need for pediatric reference ranges in advanced lipoprotein testing. Her research interests include endocrinology, diabetes, lipids, and laboratory best practices.
