ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH CENTER IMAGING CORE SUPPLEMENT

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. An imperative for developing non-invasive tools with early diagnostic capability has resulted from the recent availability of effective forms of pharmacotherapy for Alzheimer¿s disease (AD). The Neuroimaging Core of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) supports structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in research patients and provides the infrastructure for developing state-of-the-art structural and functional MRI and positron emission tomographic (PET) imaging in aging and dementia. The combined input from the reviewers of our ADRC Competing Renewal and our External Advisory Committee has supported our goal of widely standardizing the MRI data collected on ADRC subjects, as well as controls, in order to develop an "in vivo brain bank". This concept would serve as a highly valuable resource for the large community of investigators of aging and dementia at the University of Pittsburgh. Therefore, we are requesting additional funding support of structural and functional imaging of well-characterized healthy elders and specific patient subgroups of interest (e.g. mild cognitive impairment) to specifically address the needs of ADRC investigators. These data will also serve as the basis for implementing and disseminating a set of methodologic tools designed to improve the interpretation of imaging studies of the aging brain. This application for a competititve supplement is in support of the overarching aim of the ADRC Neuroimaging core to continue to develop and distribute technology for acquiring and interpreting structural and functional image data in support of AD research.