Document text
Principal Investigator: SANDRA WEINTRAUB
Organization: NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $809,789
Funding agency: National Institute on Aging
PROJECT SUMMARY - CLINICAL CORE
The Clinical Core will establish and maintain a cohort of extensively characterized individuals who have
volunteered to participate in research projects addressing brain aging and dementia. In the next 5-year cycle,
the Clinical Core of the Northwestern ADRC will continue to serve NIA and NAPA priorities for research on
Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias (AD/ADRD). At the same time, the Clinical Core will
leverage local research programs within our longstanding theme of heterogeneity of cognitive aging and
dementia, as reflected in the studies of unusually successful brain aging (SuperAging) and non-amnestic
dementias (e.g., primary progressive aphasia). The emphasis on Alzheimer's disease will shift to earlier onset
and pre-symptomatic stages with a view toward prevention trials. The SuperAging projects will explore factors
that promote resilience to aging-related involutional changes and resistance to the emergence of Alzheimer’s
pathology. The primary progressive aphasia program will help to clarify the biological diversity of Alzheimer's
disease and the principles of selective vulnerability in focal brain neurodegeneration.
In the next five years, the Clinical Core will support the following goals:
1) Maintain a diverse cohort of 500 research participants characterized by the Uniform Data Set (UDS)
enhanced with center-specific measures, followed annually, and committed to neuroimaging, tissue
donation and participation in national collaborations through NACC, ADCS, ADGC, NCRAD, and ADNI and
in local collaborations investigating cognitive aging and dementia.
2) Promote areas of clinical and basic research where the Northwestern ADRC enjoys a national leadership
role, such as SuperAging, primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and other FTLD-spectrum dementias, and
encourage new investigators from outside fields at Northwestern to collaborate on AD/ADRD research.
3) Promote the 'therapeutic encounter' theme of the ADRC through the support of innovative non-
pharmacologic interventions and establishment of long-term relationships between ORE Core social
workers and Clinical Core participants for recruitment and retention.
4) Sustain a training approach that capitalizes on the multidisciplinary 'centerness' of the Northwestern
ADRC and that serves the mission of the Research Education Component through the cultivation of an
environment where trainees from different disciplines (basic and cognitive science, neurology,
neuropsychology, psychiatry, social work, and neuroimaging) train together in contiguous space.
Terms: <AD dementia><AD pathology><AD related dementia><ADRD><Address><Alzheimer Type Dementia><Alzheimer disease dementia><Alzheimer sclerosis><Alzheimer syndrome><Alzheimer's><Alzheimer's Disease><Alzheimer's and related dementias><Alzheimer's disease and related dementia><Alzheimer's disease and related disorders><Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia><Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder><Alzheimer's disease or related dementia><Alzheimer's disease pathology><Alzheimer's disease related dementia><Alzheimer's pathology><Alzheimers Dementia><Amentia><Area><Autopsy><Basic Research><Basic Science><Biodiversity><Biological Diversity><Brain><Brain Nervous System><Clinic><Clinical><Clinical Research><Clinical Study><Clinico-Pathologic Conference><Clinico-Pathological Conference><CoV pandemic><Cognitive><Cognitive Disturbance><Cognitive Impairment><Cognitive Science><Cognitive aging><Cognitive decline><Cognitive function abnormal><Collaborations><Community Outreach><Consensus><Consent><Consultations><Data Bases><Data Set><Databases><Dedications><Dementia><Diagnosis><Discipline><Disease><Disorder><Disturbance in cognition><Education and Outreach><Encephalon><Enrollment><Environment><Event><FTLD><Frontotemporal Lobar Degenerations><Frontotemporal variety lobar degeneration><Funding><Goals><Grant><Heterogeneity><Impaired cognition><Individual><Infrastructure><Instruction and Outreach><Investigators><Joints><Laboratories><Leadership><Long-term cohort><Longitudinal cohort><Longterm cohort><Measures><Medical Research><Mesulam Syndrome><Mission><Modality><Nerve Degeneration><Neurology><Neuron Degeneration><Neuropsychologies><Neuropsychology><Non-pharmacologic Therapy><Nonpharmacologic Intervention><Nonpharmacologic Therapy><Nonpharmacologic approach><Nonpharmacologic treatment><Participant><Patient Recruitments><Patients><Prevention trial><Primary Progressive Aphasia><Primary Senile Degenerative Dementia><Productivity><Progressive Aphasias><Psychiatry><QOL><Quality Control><Quality of life><R-Series Research Projects><R01 Mechanism><R01 Program><Research><Research Grants><Research Personnel><Research Priority><Research Project Grants><Research Projects><Research Resources><Researchers><Resistance><Resources><Role><Social Service><Social Work><Social Workers><Source><Structure><Therapeutic><Time><Tissue Donations><Training><Training and Outreach><Translating><Tutoring and Outreach><Work><Writing><aged brain><aging associated><aging brain><aging related><aging resilience><build resilience><build resiliency><clinical conference><cognitive dysfunction><cognitive loss><cognitive psychology><cohort><conference><consultation><convention><coronavirus pandemic><data access><data base><data exchange><data integration><data management><data resource><data transfer><data transmission><design><designing><develop resilience><develop resiliency><early onset><education research><enhance resilience><enhance resiliency><enroll><faculty research><human subject><imaging biomarker><imaging marker><imaging-based biological marker><imaging-based biomarker><imaging-based marker><improve resilience><improve resiliency><increase resilience><increase resiliency><innovate><innovation><innovative><meeting><meetings><multidisciplinary><necropsy><neural degeneration><neural imaging><neuro-imaging><neurobehavior><neurodegeneration><neurodegenerative><neuroimaging><neurological degeneration><neurological imaging><neuronal degeneration><neuropathologic><neuropathological><neuropathology><neuropsychologic><non-drug therapy><non-drug treatment><nondrug therapy><nondrug treatment><novel><outreach><participant recruitment><participant retention><postmortem><preservation><primary degenerative dementia><programs><promote resilience><promote resiliency><recruit><resilience development><resilience during aging><resilience in aging><resilience in normal aging><resilience to aging><resilient aging><resilient to aging><resistant><senile dementia of the Alzheimer type><social role><statistics><summit><symposia><symposium><synergism><volunteer>