A digital assessment tool developed at the University of Tasmania to identify dementia risk before memory symptoms appear has received $2.5 million to accelerate its development and commercialisation.
TasTest is one of seven Australian innovations sharing $15.6 million through the second round of CUREator+ Dementia & Cognitive Decline, funded by the Australian Government through the Medical Research Future Fund.
The investment will support further development and validation to help transform TasTest from a research tool into a commercially available product.
TasTest combines clinical neurology, dementia research and artificial intelligence to analyse hand movements, reaction time, memory, visual processing, speech and language.
The technology aims to identify changes associated with dementia risk 10 to 20 years before cognitive symptoms appear, whenaddressing modifiable health and lifestyle risk factors may have the greatest impact.
The funding follows TasTest’s selection as a finalist in the 2026 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research , recognising the project’s interdisciplinary combination of artificial intelligence and clinical neurology.
Professor of Neurology Jane Alty, from the University’s Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre , said the investment represented a major step in the project’s development.
“Changes associated with dementia begin in the brain many years before a person notices problems with their memory. TasTest is designed to detect subtle movement changes during this period,” Professor Alty said.
“The greatest opportunity in dementia is prevention. With evidence suggesting that up to 45 per cent of cases may be preventable or delayed, identifying risk decades before symptoms develop could transform how we protect brain health.
“This funding will allow us to build on more than six years of research and the extraordinary contribution of our participants from across Australia, especially in the Tasmanian ISLAND Project, and statewide ISLAND Cognitive Clinic, bringing TasTest closer to becoming a test that people can take at their GP surgery or in their own homes.”
TasTest was developed by a multidisciplinary University team spanning dementia research, clinical neurology, information and communication technology, and psychology.
More than 5,000 research participants in Tasmania and interstate have helped the team develop and test TasTest, including about 2,000 people who have completed the assessment annually over the last six years.
The researchers are comparing TasTest results with established measures of dementia risk, including blood biomarkers, clinical diagnoses and cognitive assessments.
Associate Professor Quan Bai, from the School of Information and Communication Technology, said the technology was designed to complement clinical expertise.
“Artificial intelligence can identify subtle patterns in movement and speech that may be difficult to detect through observation alone,” Associate Professor Bai said.
“By enabling people to conduct simple assessments themselves, AI can provide clinicians with an additional source of objective information to support their assessment and help monitor changes over time.
“This technology is not intended to replace doctors or provide a diagnosis. It provides doctors with objective information to support clinical decision-making and identify people who may need further assessment or focused risk modification.”
The project builds on a steady stream of national and local funding, including an $899,782 National Health and Medical Research Council Ideas Grant for 2021 to 2025, a second $1.1 million Ideas Grant for 2024 to 2028, and a $450,000 Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation Major Project Grant for 2022 to 2024.
CUREator+ Dementia & Cognitive Decline is a national research translation and commercialisation program delivered by Brandon BioCatalyst in partnership with ANDHealth and Dementia Australia .
The funding is being announced during Dementia Action Week, from 21 to 25 September.
