South Carolina families wondering if a loved one has Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias might soon have access to a blood test that could give them some answers. A statewide consortium is also trying to find out why the Palmetto State carries such a high burden of devastating brain diseases.

South Carolina has 112,500 people over the age of 65 who have Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 11.5 percent of that age group, the Alzheimer’s Association said in its 2025 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. The Palmetto State also has the eighth-highest rate of death from the disease, the report found.

That heavy burden is what prompted the association and others to push for the creation of the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, a joint effort between Clemson University, Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of South Carolina. The state Legislature provided $10 million to help fund the center, with the goal of getting a federal designation as an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, though the state is still seeking that.

Some of that funding went to two Quanterix analyzers that can look at biomarkers for disease, in the case Alzheimer’s and other dementias. They are currently running a couple of different tests on donated samples and are preparing the lab to get a crucial clinical designation, said Dr. Steven Carroll, MUSC director for the South Carolina Alzheimer’s center.  One of the machines will be devoted to clinical use and the other to research on why the state suffers particularly from dementias, he said.