The Impact of Risk for AD and CVD on Brain Structure and Cognition

描述(由申请者提供)：本申请表旨在为申请者提供所需的高级技能，以便在认知神经科学领域建立独立的衰老和痴呆症风险研究项目。候选人提出了一项为期五年的全面培训计划，将高级技能培训、教学和正式指导与导师和顾问团队结合起来。具体的培训目标包括扩大已有的技能和开发以下领域的专门知识：1)新的结构神经成像方法，2)认知神经科学研究的理论和应用方面，特别是与认知老化和痴呆症风险有关的研究，以及3)在痴呆症的特定风险因素的背景下，整合这些方法，以更好地理解大脑结构和功能之间的关系。导师团队包括认知神经心理学、神经成像、实验心理学、认知衰老、痴呆症和流行病学方面的专业知识，再加上布里格姆妇女医院、退伍军人管理局波士顿医疗系统和阿蒂努拉·A·马蒂诺斯生物医学成像中心的培训环境，将确保在这三个领域提供一流的指导。拟议的研究项目将整合灰质形态测量的先进方法、白质(WM)微结构的新型扩散张量成像(DTI)测量和神经心理测试，以更好地了解痴呆症危险因素对结构和功能的影响。该项目有三个具体目标，包括：1)确定AD和CVD的潜在灰质完整性、认知和风险因素之间的关联；2)确定WM微观结构完整性、认知和风险因素之间的关联；3)纵向检查这些关系。这些数据将进一步阐明与危险因素相关的神经解剖学和神经心理学特征，并将提供关于结构-功能关系的独特信息，这些关系可能在临床疾病过程开始很久之前就存在了。总的来说，本申请中描述的职业培训和研究部分将使应聘者成为一名独立的研究员，对衰老和认知能力下降的风险进行神经解剖学和神经心理学研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application for a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) is designed to provide the candidate with advanced skills needed to establish an independent program of research in the cognitive neuroscience of aging and dementia risk. The candidate proposes a five-year comprehensive training plan that combines advanced skill training, didactics, and formal instruction with a team of mentors and advisors. Specific training goals include expanding established skill sets and in developing expertise in the following areas: 1) novel structural neuroimaging methodologies, 2) theoretical and applied aspects of cognitive neuroscience research, specifically as they relate to cognitive aging and dementia risk, and 3) the integration of these methodologies to better understand the relationship between brain structure and function in the context of specific risk factors for dementia. The Mentorship team, which includes individuals with expertise in cognitive neuropsychology, neuroimaging, experimental psychology, cognitive aging, dementia and epidemiology, coupled with the training environments of Brigham and Women's Hospital, the VA Boston Healthcare System, and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging will ensure superb instruction in these three areas. The proposed research project will integrate advanced methods of morphological measurement of gray matter, novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of white matter (WM) microstructure, and neuropsychological testing to better understand the impact of dementia risk factors on structure and function. The project has three specific aims, including: 1) determining the association among the integrity of underlying gray matter, cognition, and risk factors for AD and CVD, 2) determining the association among the integrity of WM microstructure, cognition, and risk factors, and 3) examining these relationships longitudinally. These data will further elucidate the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological characteristics associated with risk factors and will provide unique information regarding structure-function relationships that may exist long before a clinical disease process begins. Collectively, the career training and research components described in this application will allow the candidate to emerge as an independent investigator conducting neuroanatomical and neuropsychological studies of aging and risk for cognitive decline.