Neuropathology Core

Project Summary – Neuropathology Core (NPC) The Neuropathology Core (NPC) provides professional expertise for the diagnosis of tissue obtained at autopsy from patients with dementia and from control subjects, recruited by the Clinical Core (CC) of the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (IADRC). The NPC will also provide information about pathologic data to referring physicians, patients’ family members, and basic researchers. In addition, the NPC will be involved in providing continuing education to physicians, researchers, technicians, and the community, about new developments emerging from AD and related dementia research. Laboratory facilities and technical resources are available for the collection, and storage of human CNS tissue. Brain tissue of demented individuals is studied for diagnostic and research purposes using a multidisciplinary approach. The NPC combines data obtained by neurohistology, and immunohistochemistry to reveal the presence of abnormal proteins and determine their localization through the CNS. The NPC has expanded its mission by integrating genetics with neuropathology. Such integration is fundamental to understand disease etiology, pathogenesis and phenotypic heterogeneity. This multidisciplinary approach is the hallmark of the IADRC’s NPC and contributes to providing a definitive diagnosis of dementing disorders. The NPC supports numerous national and international scientific programs, providing scientific insights along with tissue samples from the brain library. Results from studies carried out by investigators of the NPC are presented at national and international conferences, including the annual Alzheimer Association International Conference (AAIC). In the study of patients with dementia, the concept of precision medicine is best applied through the interaction of the NPC with the CC, the Neuroimaging Core, the Genetics, Biomarker, and Biospecimen Core and the Data Core.