Vanderbilt Alzheimer's Disease Research Center: Neuropathology Core

PROJECT SUMMARY – NEUROPATHOLOGY CORE The Vanderbilt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (VADRC) Neuropathology Core will lead the collection, tracking, and distribution of postmortem brain samples to support the VADRC mission of characterizing how vascular risk and disease intersect with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) at the cellular, systems biological, and population levels. The Neuropathology Core will build on the strong neuropathological groundwork laid over the last few years and capitalize on previously established tissue acquisition and processing pipelines to collect brain tissue and postmortem biofluids, assess neuropathologic change, and develop a biorepository and digital slide library. The Neuropathology Core will work with the Clinical and Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Cores to increase participant awareness about our brain donation program and obtain consent using a Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. The Neuropathology Core will perform tissue processing according to established guidelines, including immediate fixation and freezing. We will perform ex vivo 3T and 7T imaging of all decedent brains to further characterize cerebrovascular changes and for targeted sampling for histologic evaluation. In addition to capturing all standard neuropathologic changes, we will also test for cerebrovascular disease, including arteriosclerosis, white matter pallor, enlarged perivascular spaces, and white matter gliosis. These findings will be distilled into a comprehensive neuropathology report for the decedent’s family. The Neuropathology Core will maintain a biorepository of all characterized fresh and frozen tissue that is available for use by any qualified investigator. All biospecimens will be tracked in conjunction with the Data Management and Statistical Core using Freezerworks and biofluids will be sent to the National Centralized Repository for ADRD. A digital neuropathology slide library will be generated and maintained, enabling broader distribution and sharing to further advance ADRD research. Finally, in collaboration with the VADRC’s Research Education Component, the Neuropathology Core will contribute to the professional development of interdisciplinary trainees through neuropathology-focused didactics.