DEVELOPING UPPER LIMB MOTOR BIOMARKERS OF DEMENTIA

With
Kaylee Rudd,
Junior Research Fellow,
Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre
University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania

RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia | February 2026

Kaylee is currently a research fellow with the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre at the University of Tasmania. She has recently submitted her PhD thesis, reporting the findings of her research on developing upper limb motor biomarkers of dementia. She has postgrad degrees in physiotherapy and experience working in the community and aged care across Tasmania for several years, where she worked with people with dementia.

Her experience underlined the importance of detecting cognitive impairment early and prompted her to join the Wicking to research dementia in 2021. Her research aims to better understand how movement is associated with cognition and to identify potential hand motor tests to help detect those at risk of developing cognitive impairment early.

One of the main highlights of her research experience has been close and regular collaboration with participants and team members of the ISLAND Clinic and the Tasmanian ISLAND Project.

Currently she coordinates the TapTalk project, a multi-level RHHRF funded project, which aims to develop a non-invasive screening test to detect risk of Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

Kaylee also contributes to national and international research projects. Examples are her work with the multisite Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT) study investigating the impact of blood-based biomarkers knowledge on clinician’s diagnostic confidence, and her ongoing collaboration with the AI-assisted motor biomarkers team in the University of Leeds, UK. 

Collaborations and funding from

• Wicking Dementia research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania
• Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmanian Health Service
• Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation (RHHRF)

Source: Supplied and adapted