Cognitive and Neural Correlates of Inflammation in Healthy Older Adults

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a K23 award for Dr. Brianne Bettcher, a neuropsychology fellow at the University of California, San Francisco Memory and Aging Center (MAC). Dr. Bettcher is establishing herself as a young investigator who conducts patient-oriented clinical research on the role of inflammation in cognitive aging. This K23 award will provide Dr. Bettcher with the support necessary to accomplish the following goals: (1) to garner expertise in the cognitive neuroscience of aging; 2) to advance her knowledge of the immunological contributions to healthy and pathological aging by translating innovative findings from basic science; (3) to acquire proficiency in structural and diffusion neuroimaging; (4) to develop proficiency in advanced statistical methods; and (5) to develop an independent research career. To achieve these goals, Dr. Bettcher has assembled a mentoring team that includes one primary mentor: Dr. Kramer (a clinical neuropsychologist and international leader in the cognitive neuroscience of aging); three co-mentors: Drs. Kristine Yaffe (a neurologist with expertise in immunological biomarkers and biostatistics), Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini (a neurologist with expertise in structural MRI, specifically diffusion tensor imaging analyses), and Bruce Miller (a neurologist with expertise in behavioral neurology and clinical research); and one consultant: Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray (an immunologist with basic science expertise in inflammation). The proposed research study focuses on the cognitive and neural correlates of inflammation in healthy older adults. Dr. Bettcher will use laboratory indices of inflammation to assess the association between inflammation and cognitive functions, specifically memory consolidation, executive functions, and processing speed (Aim 1). Dr. Bettcher will employ structural and diffusion neuroimaging data to explicate the neural correlates of inflammation, and further identify whether these neural systems mediate the relation between inflammation and cognition (Aim 2). In order to isolate a novel mechanism of immune dysfunction, Dr. Bettcher will also examine the role of an upstream regulator of inflammation (i.e. progranulin) in cognitive functions and its association with brain structure (Aim 3). The proposed research will utilize the existing infrastructure of the MAC to investigate this new program of study.