Shining a Light on Early Detection in Dementia

September 17, 2025

Meet Dr. Ivan Martinez-Valbuena

Dr. Ivan Martinez-Valbuena is a Scientific Associate at the Krembil Brain Institute and at the University of Toronto’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Originally from Spain, he completed his PhD in neuropathology before moving to Toronto for his postdoctoral fellowship. He has published more than 60 papers and is dedicated to advancing earlier, more accurate diagnosis of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

What drew you to dementia research?

I cannot point to one single moment that set me on this path. Since I was young, I have been fascinated by how the brain works, but what really shaped my career were the mentors who guided me along the way. As an undergraduate I worked in neuro-genetics, the study of how changes in our genes affect the brain and nervous system. During my PhD, I had the privilege of learning from one of Spain’s leading neurologists, Dr. Rosario Luquin Piudo, about the complex relationship between type 2 diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. Those experiences opened the door to the Tanz Centre in Toronto for my post-doctoral fellowship, where Drs. Anthony Lang, Gabor Kovacs, and Carmela Tartaglia showed me, through their dedication and the way they care for patients, what it means to devote a career to understanding neurodegenerative diseases.

What are you working on now?

My research looks for better ways to detect dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases earlier and more precisely. Neurodegenerative diseases are illnesses where brain cells gradually stop working and die, leading to problems with memory, thinking, movement, or behaviour. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Lewy body dementia are some examples. Many of these conditions involve proteins in the brain, such as tau or alpha-synuclein, that can fold the wrong way and form harmful clumps. We use very sensitive tests — think of them as “molecular smoke detectors” — that can detect tiny traces of these clumps in cerebrospinal fluid. In some diseases, we can even find them in a small sample of skin. We also measure other proteins and inflammation-related markers to build a clearer picture of what is happening in the brain. The goal is to create tests that are accurate, minimally invasive, and practical for clinics.

Why does this work matter?

Today, most people with dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases are diagnosed late, when a lot of damage has already occurred and treatments can be less effective. Earlier, more precise tests could give families answers sooner, help doctors choose the right treatment for the right person, and make clinical trials faster and fairer by enrolling people at the best time. Clearer diagnostics also reduce uncertainty, so care and planning can start earlier. In the long run, these tools could support prevention strategies and improve quality of life.

Where do you see your career going next?

My dream is to establish my own lab focused on moving these discoveries into everyday care. That will require multi-site collaborations to show the tests work across many people and settings, as well as close partnerships with clinicians so our assays — the lab-based tests and measurements we develop — are useful in real practice. I also hope to help train the next generation of researchers. The goal is simple: bring earlier answers and better care to people living with dementia and their families.

Looking at the bigger picture

Dr. Martinez-Valbuena's work pushes the frontier of knowing dementia by developing tools that could transform how we diagnose and treat neurodegenerative diseases. His research promises not just scientific insight, but real hope for earlier detection, less uncertainty, and better quality of life for those affected and their families.