Clinical Core

REVISED Abstract: 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 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.