Researchers at the University Health Network (UHN) and the University of Toronto have developed a skin-based test that can detect signature features of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects body movements, including walking, balance and swallowing.

The test, which the researchers describe in a recent issue of JAMA Neurology, could allow for more accurate and faster PSP diagnosis than current methods.

“This assay is important for assigning patients to the correct clinical trials, but it will be even more important in the future as researchers develop targeted, precision treatments for PSP,” says Ivan Martinez-Valbuena, a scientific associate at the Rossy Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Centre at the UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute and U of T’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases.