New study for early detection of Alzheimer’s shows promising results

Researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle biotech startup AltPep released successful results from a new test for the early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease — potentially even before symptoms are present. Read more. (Above, AltPep CEO Valerie Daggett accepts the award for Health Innovation of the Year at the 2023 GeekWire Awards)

Speaking of Health Innovation of the Year: The five finalists for the category at this year’s GeekWire Awards highlight the multitude of ways that technology is changing healthcare, from treatment in the hospital to the development of new therapeutics. We’ll announce the winners on stage at the GeekWire Awards event in Seattle on May 9. Cast your vote here.

Microsoft announced a new AI engineering hub in London, to be led by Jordan Hoffman, an AI scientist and engineer who joined the company with the recent influx of employees from Inflection AI. It’s part of the newly formed Microsoft AI group led by Mustafa Suleyman, the former Google DeepMind leader who was CEO of Inflection AI. (Official Microsoft Blog)

Last-minute eclipse guide: If you’re somewhere with the sun visible in the sky — sorry, Seattleites, it’s pretty cloudy out there — the maximum eclipse takes place today at 11:29 a.m. PT, so strap on your eclipse glasses and look up. You can also watch using a variety of live video feeds. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Groundlight, Protect AI, and Retrocasual are among the Seattle-area startups that made CB Insights’ latest AI 100 list. (CB Insights)

• Computer science is the most requested major among freshman applicants at the University of Washington. (The Daily)

• New road signs in the Seattle region use infrared technology to detect unsafe driving habits. (KUOW)

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great week. — GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com, and GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com.