Years before tau tangles show up in brain scans of patients with Alzheimer's disease, a biomarker test developed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine can detect small amounts of the clumping-prone tau protein and its misfolded pathological forms that litter the brain,

Small amount of the protein found in those with Alzheimer’s disease can be detected years before it shows up in brain scans of those with the disease, new research published Monday in Nature Medicine found.

A breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer's was made by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, where a test was created to detect the disease in the brain earlier. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Thomas Karikari is one of countless researchers nationwide working to combat Alzheimer's.

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, formed by the accumulation of tau protein into fibrillar structures. These tangles, composed of paired helical filaments and straight filaments,