THE GENETICS AND MULTI-OMICS SPECIMENS CORE (GMSC)

ABSTRACT FOR GMSC Aging populations worldwide, particularly in developed countries, face an increasing burden of neurodegenerative diseases. Genetic studies have greatly contributed to our understanding of these complex diseases. Now it is clear that studies beyond genetics, such as transcriptomics, proteomics, or epigenomics are needed to fully understand the biology of neurodegeneration and healthy aging, to identify novel biomarkers and identify novel targets. The goal of the Genomics and Multi-omics Specimens core (GMSC) is to obtain, bank and quality control (QC) biospecimens (DNA, RNA and plasma) from AABC participants. The core will generate GWAS, APOE and polygenic risk scores for all participants that will be used by other AABC Projects. We will also generate longitudinal multi-omic (classic blood analytes, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarkers, and neuroinflammation proteomics) blood data that will be used for Projects 1-4 to determine biomarker positivity for AD, allosteric load, inflammation, lifestyle behaviors, and the menopausal transition that are instrumental for those projects.