In December 2023, Dr Dhamidhu Eratne was awarded the RANZCP Foundation Catalyst Grant for his research project MiND the Gap: fast tracking implementation of brain health and dementia diagnosis and risk prediction blood tests in Australia. The Catalyst grant provides seed funding to assist researchers to prepare a pilot or proof of concept for future study.  

Identifying the underlying aetiology of psychiatric, neurological, and cognitive symptoms in patients is a common diagnostic dilemma. With consumer/carer co-design, this study aims to identify factors that influence brain blood biomarker test results and will support larger studies for clinical implementation in community settings of simple blood tests for diagnosing and reducing risk of a diverse range of psychiatric, cognitive, neurological symptoms and conditions.  

Blood samples will be analysed in patients from diverse clinical settings, to investigate influence of diagnosis, phase of illness, different pre-analytical and laboratory techniques, age, weight, and sex, on biomarker levels.