Researcher

Yilong Ma

Profile

Yilong Ma is a neuroscientist at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health, who specializes in neuroimaging and quantitative brain biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. His laboratory developed the Parkinson's disease-related pattern (PDRP) and related metabolic covariance patterns using FDG-PET (fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography) and machine learning algorithms, creating objective, quantitative imaging biomarkers that can detect and track Parkinson's disease progression with high sensitivity and specificity even in early and prodromal stages. These metabolic network biomarkers have been validated in multiple international cohorts and are now used in clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of neuroprotective therapies for Parkinson's disease and related conditions. Ma's work bridges clinical neuroscience with quantitative imaging methodology, providing tools that pharmaceutical companies need to demonstrate disease-modification in clinical trials—a major challenge in neurodegeneration drug development. His biomarker approaches have application in Parkinson's, Huntington's, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Companies developing neuroprotective therapies for movement disorders frequently use his imaging paradigms in their clinical trial protocols.

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