| Andrew Blackwell of Cambridge Cognition talks to EPC about the value of highly-specialised services and cognitive assessment products based on cutting-edge science
Let’s start with a brief description of your company, and the vision behind it.
Our mission is to assist people to live healthier lives through innovative applications of cognitive science. We believe that discovery of the optimum treatments for cognitive disorders will be enabled by the best possible understanding of the biological substrates of cognitive impairment. The CANTAB® (Cambridge Neuropyschological Test Automated Battery) suite of neuropsychological tests was developed at the University of Cambridge in the laboratories of Professors Trevor Robbins and Barbara Sahakian. Validated through over 20 years of research, the system has been used in over 550 peer-reviewed journal papers and is currently in use in over 600 research institutions in more than 50 countries. Studies including lesion, neuroimaging, clinical and psychopharmacological, have enabled a unique understanding of test sensitivities. We are able to use this wealth of research data to inform the design of our research partners’ studies. Administered on touch-screen computers, the CANTAB tests are marketed to medical and academic researchers and to the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. The tests are predominantly language-independent and therefore well-suited to translational and multinational research programmes. |
