Therapeutic area

Frontotemporal dementia

Developing and evaluating wearable sensors and digital assessments to track motor, speech, and cognitive function in frontotemporal dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) refers to progressive disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal regions of the brain. Presentations include behavioral variant FTD, with changes in behavior and judgment, and language-led forms such as semantic and nonfluent variants of primary progressive aphasia. FTD can also occur with motor neuron disease, including ALS. Symptoms and their progression vary across individuals.

Talk to our team Explore our research

$2.5 million DoD award supports CBS and FTD research

In 2024, BioSensics received an approximately $2.5 million, four-year contract through the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) to develop and evaluate digital measures for CBS and FTD.

Explore our clinical studies

Our research in FTD

Our FTD research is supported by DoD CDMRP and a separate award from the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and the ALS Association. We focus on two areas: developing digital measures of motor, speech, and cognitive function across FTD presentations, and building longitudinal datasets to support clinical research.

  • Multimodal monitoring

    Digital measures to study changes in FTD

    Wearable sensors and digital tasks to study motor, speech, and cognitive function through repeated assessments at home.

  • Longitudinal datasets

    Longitudinal data for clinical research

    Repeated measurements of daily activity and task performance to help characterize changes in function between clinical visits.

Digital measures to study changes in FTD

We combine wearable sensors with digital assessments to study movement, speech, cognition, and daily function. Developed with clinical experts and informed by patient experience, this approach is being evaluated for its ability to measure changes over time. The aim is to identify measures that complement clinical assessments across FTD presentations.

  • PAMSys

    Wearable sensors that record movement to characterize daily activity, posture, and mobility patterns.

  • LEGSys

    Wearable gait analysis during structured walking assessments at home to track changes over time.

  • BioDigit Speech

    Standardized speech tasks and automated analysis to study changes in speech production and motor speech function.

  • Cognitive and fine motor assessments

    Digital tasks designed for repeated assessment of cognitive performance and fine motor control at home.

  • Oculomotor assessments

    Video-based tasks using BioDigit Video to record eye movements for research assessment.

Our clinical study in FTD

BioDigit FTLD-03 is an observational study designed to evaluate digital measures across frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) syndromes, including FTD and CBS. The study plans to follow 20 participants in total for 12 months, with visits every three months. The April 2026 registry record lists the study as not yet recruiting.

Our research partners

Our FTD research brings together academic medical centers and patient advocacy organizations.

  • ALS Association
  • Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Massachusetts General Hospital

Advance FTD research with digital measures

Bring everyday function into FTD research. Contact our team to discuss research collaborations, study protocols, data access, or the use of digital measures in your clinical studies.

Talk to our team