Research Project
8118361
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This grant application requests five years of renewed support for the Arizona Alzheimer's Disease Core Center (ADCC). Scientifically, the ADCC is intended to optimize the development and use of its Cores, so as to capitalize on Arizona's scientific and organizational resources in the understanding, very early detection, and tracking of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in the discovery of disease-slowing and prevention therapies. Organizationally, the ADCC is intended to establish a leading model of statewide collaboration in AD research. The Administrative Core provides the leadership and support needed to optimize the development, interaction, and use of its Cores. Working closely with researchers inside and outside Arizona, the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC), and other AD Centers, it promotes the development and progress of AD-related studies and collaborations. It administers a program for the statewide solicitation, competitive review, and support of pilot studies. It helps solve the challenges and fulfill the opportunities associated with the ADCCs statewide collaborative model, and ensures the ADCC's accountability to the NIA. The Clinical Core maintains a large pool of clinically well characterized and annually assessed research subjects for the scientific study of AD and aging. The subjects include patients with AD and other dementias, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and normal controls, almost all of whom are enrolled in a brain donation program, and a growing pool of Latino and American Indian research subjects. This Core ensures the comparability and productive and appropriate use of subjects and data from its five clinical sites. It also promotes the productive and appropriate scientific use of longitudinally followed subjects, DNA, and data from three independently funded ancillary programs, yielding new information about the transition from cognitively normal aging to cognitive decline in persons at differential risk for AD. The Data Management and Statistics Core maintains the ADCC's database, helps ensure the quality of data and the protection of subject confidentiality, and provides statistical services in a manner that best serves the needs of the statewide ADCC. It works closely with researchers, NACC, and other AD Centers, sharing data in the most productive, timely, and appropriate way. The Neuropathology Core provides neuropathological diagnoses and extremely high-quality brain tissue from expired Clinical Core subjects to support research studies in Arizona and around the world. It also promotes the productive and appropriate use of biological materials from a large additional number of clinically and neuropathologically well characterized non-demented elderly subjects from its independently funded ancillary brain donation program, helping to address a critical need in the AD research community. The Education and Information Core provides training, innovative educational and outreach programs, and strategic partnerships to promote the development of AD-related researchers, address needs of professional and family caregivers, provide information about the ADCC, and address unmet needs of Arizona's American Indian and rapidly growing Latino communities.
