Biomarker discovery of Alzheimer's disease trajectory using NMR platform

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

ABSTRACT In response to the NOT-GM-21-028, we are submitting a supplement to our parent R01 5R01GM120033-05 to fund a summer undergraduate student from Rice University who has been accepted to Baylor College of Medicine Summer Undergraduate Research Training (SMART) program. Within our R01 award, we are developing two powerful new automated algorithms to capture biomarkers of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Both of these tools capitalize on recent developments in machine learning; one of them, NMRQuant, has already been validated on simulated and phantom nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data and is ready to be applied to biological samples. We propose to examine the plasma samples obtained from the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC), which prospectively collects demographic, environmental, neuropsychosocial, and genetic data along with the biofluid samples, in consecutive 1-year follow-up analyses that track various health outcomes. The undergraduate student will spend 10 weeks in the lab as part of SMART program and will examine 30 AD plasma samples for biomarkers of disease using NMR and our new algorithms. Baylor College of Medicine approved in-lab training of SMART students. Thus, within the lab, the student will learn necessary procedures when dealing with human samples, new technologies such as NMR, and computational analyses. Through the SMART program, the student will expand her academic knowledge and career planning via structured daily seminars. She will also present her progress and data to the lab and to the SMART program. This work will thus bring transformative knowledge to her future career of a physician/scientist.