Marta Milà receives the extraordinary prize of doctorate in biomedicine from Pompeu Fabra University

The thesis of Dr. Marta Milà, 'Characterization of fluid biomarker profiles in the preclinical stage of the Alzheimer's continuum', has been recognized with the extraordinary prize 2021-2022 of the doctoral program in Biomedicine of the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona. The academic committee of the program awards, since 2013, the best theses defended in each course, among those qualified with an Excellent Cum Laude, valuing the quality and originality of the research contributions.

"I am very grateful to Pompeu Fabra University for this recognition of the work done during my doctoral thesis, which is not just for me, but for all the people I have worked with over the years and who have given me all the support necessary to achieve this milestone", explains Dr. Milà. 

The thesis focused on biomarker profiles in fluids in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's. “During the almost four years of my PhD, we worked to better understand the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease by studying different biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and also new biomarkers in blood that will contribute to an accurate and less invasive early diagnosis of this disease", she adds. 

The research studies, on the one hand, the impact of different definitions of beta amyloid positivity based on biomarkers, and on the other, the physiopathological phenomena that occur in preclinical Alzheimer's and how they are affected by risk non-modifiable factors, such as age and gender. In addition, the researcher has studied the performance of new biomarkers in blood to detect preclinical Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Milà read the thesis on April 29, 2022. The work is the third doctoral thesis developed within the framework of the research program of the 'Alzheimer at the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC). It was directed by Dr. Marc Suárez-Calvet, head of the Biomarkers Research Group in Fluids and Translational Neurology at the BBRC, and Dr. José Luis Molinuevo, honorary member and scientific consultant of the center.

Dr. Marta Milà joined the BBRC as a pre-doctoral researcher in 2018. After a period as a post-doctoral researcher in the Fluid Biomarkers and Translational Neurology Research Group, in 2022 she joined the University of California and at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE) as a post-doctoral researcher.