1Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Biomarker Core

SUMMARY: Biomarker Core Alzheimer’s disease (AD) classically develops in the elderly. The classical way to confirm an AD diagnosis is the presence of amyloid deposition and tau pathology at post-mortem; however in-vivo biomarkers can serve as proxies of these characteristics and are invaluable in separating healthy aging from AD as well as placing individuals along the AD continuum. The Biomarker Core works closely with the three Clinical Core sites across Miami and Gainesville, as well as the Data Core to provide timely access to raw, pre-processed, and post- processed data. The Aims of this Biomarker Core include: 1) Web-based Neuroimaging Portal for Accessing, Visualizing, and Sharing Multimodal Imaging Data. 2) Integrating New Imaging and Biofluid Modalities into the Neuroimaging Portal. 3) Multimodal, Multiclass, and Machine Learning Algorithms of Imaging and Biofluid Markers. 4) Provide Support for Ongoing and Future R01, U01, REC, K01, K99, T32, and F32 grants across the network of Florida and non-Florida Projects. There is a rich and expansive group of grants that will be able to leverage the biomarker datasets acquired within the Clinical Core, including those funded as part of the Research and Education Core (REC). This core will provide the needed communication, data sharing, analysis support, and neuroimaging training for research in these projects to proceed. We believe that this study, which would be one of the largest of its kind, will combine data acquired at the Wien Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders, UM Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging, and University of Florida. Access to this new multimodal dataset in AD and other dementias will provide added statistical meaningfulness in studying dementia and inclusion of a large number of Hispanics and African Americans, which is much needed given the current demographics of the popular ADNI database.