A new non-invasive early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease has been developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The discovery of this non-invasive dye could aid in monitoring the progression of the disease and in studying the effectiveness of new treatments to stop it.

MIT, partnered with Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh, have developed a contrast agent that would first bind to the protein deposits, or plaques, in the brain that cause Alzheimer's, and then fluoresce when exposed to radiation in the near-infrared range.

The new dye could allow direct imaging of Alzheimer's plaques through a patient's skull.

Study leader Timothy Swager says of the findings capabilities, "Before you can cure Alzheimer's, you have to be able to diagnose it and monitor its progress very precisely. Otherwise it's hard to know whether a new treatment is working or not."

The findings are published in Friday's Angewandte Chemie.