Moonrise Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Measurement of Social Communication Abilities in Prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease (MOONRISE)
IRAS ID
363858
Contact name
Miles Welstead
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Scottish Brain Sciences
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Communication difficulties are a recognised early feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and tend to worsen as the condition progresses. Problems with word-finding, conversational flow, and social interaction are common and place considerable strain on both individuals and their carers. Surveys show that most people living with dementia experience communication challenges, particularly in following conversations and expressing themselves. Additionally, our Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) work within Scottish Brain Sciences has highlighted that social communication is one of the most meaningful aspects of health for people with memory concerns and those supporting them.
Early in AD, difficulties usually centre on word-finding and subtle conversational skills, while reading and comprehension often remain intact. As AD advances, communication becomes more noticeably impaired, affecting everyday interactions and independence. Despite their importance, these changes are not routinely assessed in clinical practice, and more sensitive, objective approaches are needed to support earlier detection.
The MOONRISE study aims to address this gap by developing objective measures of social communication across individuals with normal cognition, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and early AD. The project is a collaboration between Ki:Elements (ki:e), a life sciences company based in Germany who work to bring speech biomarkers into clinical trials and real world settings, and Scottish Brain Sciences (SBS), a Scotland based brain sciences research organisation that delivers research trials, focusing on how our brains and nervous systems function to identify and develop new treatments. The aim is to combine ki:e’s speech biomarker technology with the clinical research capabilities of SBS to advance early identification of communication decline.
MOONRISE will recruit 100 participants already enrolled in the IONA Longitudinal Cohort Study (LCS), a SBS sponsored study that involves annual visits with cognitive and physical assessments. The MOONRISE procedures will be added to the end of participants’ usual IONA visit, with no extra appointments required. The study will use selected cognitive measures already collected within IONA LCS, alongside MOONRISE-specific assessments. These MOONRISE specific assessments include a short recorded conversation and descriptions of illustrated scenes to capture natural speech patterns. A study partner will also complete a brief questionnaire about the participant’s everyday communication. The MOONRISE additions are expected to take around 10 minutes for the participant and approximately 5 minutes for the study partner.
Computer-based analysis will examine features such as fluency, vocabulary use, response timing, and turn-taking. By comparing these speech features with standard cognitive measures, MOONRISE aims to identify early, reliable markers of social communication change that could support earlier diagnosis and guide future interventions in Alzheimer’s disease.REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/PR/1736
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jan 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion