CLINICAL CORE

随着我们对阿尔茨海默病（AD）和其他神经退行性疾病的疾病机制的理解的成熟，迫切需要将基础神经生物学进展与基于患者的研究联系起来。为了利用过去二十年的科学进步，基础、转化和临床研究者必须协调我们的努力，最大限度地利用机会， 改善临床护理。埃默里ADRC保持对综合研究工作的高度关注，临床核心服务于提供临床基础设施和促进研究参与者的访问，以支持AD和相关神经退行性疾病的研究。临床核心在这一竞争更新的关键主题是继续支持和加强我们中心的重点是综合科学和扩大非洲裔美国老年人在这些活动的参与。 在我们最初的资助期间，埃默里ADRC临床核心与我们中心的其他要素密切合作，为支持生产性基础和临床研究建立了坚实的基础和可证明的有效性。当前提案的具体目标是：1）招募ADRC研究项目的参与者，并支持埃默里大学的转化神经退行性疾病研究; 2）维持一批研究参与者，并为国家协调中心提供高质量的临床数据和生物样本; 3）最大限度地提高非裔美国老年人参与ADRC赞助的研究和相关项目。通过这些目标，我们将继续建设我们的能力，以支持尖端研究，特别强调开发方法，以识别和招募处于认知衰退早期阶段的个体，参与早期检测和疾病改善疗法的基础研究和临床研究。我们还将继续探索独特的机会，通过埃默里ADRC和亚特兰大非裔美国人社区领导人之间的独特伙伴关系，改善生物医学研究中现有的种族差异。为临床核心提出的主题和目标与埃默里ADRC的整体重点一致，它将作为基础和临床研究工作的有力支持者，以提高我们诊断和治疗AD和其他神经退行性痴呆疾病患者的能力。

With the maturation of our understanding of disease mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders, there is an urgent need to relate basic neurobiological advances to patientbased research. To capitalize on scientific advances during the past two decades, the community of basic, translational, and clinical investigators must coordinate our efforts to maximize opportunities to accelerate improvements in clinical care. The Emory ADRC maintains an intense focus on integrative research efforts, and the Clinical Core serves the vital functions of providing clinical infrastructure and facilitating access to research participants to support research on AD and related neurodegenerative disorders. Key themes for the Clinical Core in this competing renewal are to continue to support and strengthen our center's focus on integrative science and expand the participation of African-American elders in these activities. During our initial funding period, the Emory ADRC Clinical Core has worked closely with other elements of our center to establish a strong foundation and demonstrable effectiveness in supporting productive basic and clinical research studies. The Specific Aims forthe current proposal are 1) to recruit participants for ADRC Research Projects and support translational neurodegenerative disease research at Emory, 2) to maintain a cohort of research participants and contribute top-quality clinical data and biological samples to national coordinating centers, and 3) to maximize participation of African-American elders in ADRCsponsored research and related projects. Through these Aims, we will continue building our capacity to support cutting edge research with a specific emphasis on developing methods to identify and recruit individuals at early stages of cognitive decline to participate in basic research and clinical research on early detection and disease-modifying therapies. We will also continue to explore unique opportunities to ameliorate the existing racial disparities in biomedical research through a unique partnership between the Emory ADRC and leaders in the Atlanta African American community. The themes and goals that are proposed for the Clinical Core are consistent with the overall focus of the Emory ADRC, and it will serve as a powerful proponent for basic and clinical research efforts to advance our abilities to diagnose and treat patients suffering from AD and other neurodegenerative dementing diseases.