Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study
The study identifies incident cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and follows consenting participants to autopsy. The study provides valuable data on extremely well characterized individuals to serve as a living, learning laboratory for aging research in general, for research on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and to facilitate collaborative research with talented investigators across the country and around the world.
Antihypertensive medications and dementia in the ACT Study
We determine comparative associations of antihypertensives (AHTs) with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, neuropathology and neuroimaging outcomes. We test the hypotheses that after controlling for their effects on blood pressure, exposure to Ang-II stimulating drugs compared with Ang-II inhibiting drugs is associated with lower risk of dementia and AD, neuropathology and neuroimaging outcomes.
Aging Eyes and Aging Brains in Studying Alzheimer’s Disease: Modern Ophthalmic Data Collection in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study
This research aims to: 1) Determine associations of cognition level and trajectory with subclinical retinal structural features such as retinal nerve fiber layer thinning and with subclinical retinal vascular features such as lower retinal perfusion; 2) Determine associations between eye diseases severity trajectories and ADRD neuropathology findings; and 3) Develop a novel platform for curating and sharing findable, accessible, interoperable, and reproducible (FAIR) ophthalmic data.
A multimodal brain cell atlas and community resource of Alzheimer’s disease and comorbid dementias
This project leverages single cell transcriptomic, epigenomic and highly multiplexed molecular spatial analysis methods developed through the BRAIN Initiative and similar efforts to develop a platform for detailed cell type phenotypic characterization of AD pathology. These tools are applied to generate a foundational understanding of the molecular and structural progression of AD, identify transcriptional and spatial hallmarks of AD pathology and affected molecular pathways, and create a catalytic open access dataset for the research community.