Neuroimaging Core

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ABSTRACT The overall goal of the proposed revision is to develop a Neuroimaging Core in the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (Rush ADCC) that will build a resource of neuroimaging data from the Rush ADCC African Americans and Latinos and from ancillary studies, and will provide neuroimaging expertise to facilitate high quality, cutting edge, externally funded research focusing on the transition from normal aging to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias. Specifically, the Neuroimaging Core will collect high quality, multi-modal, longitudinal in-vivo brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from African American and Latino participants of the Clinical and Latino Cores who agree to autopsy, and will integrate the new data along with a large volume of in-vivo and ex-vivo MRI data from separately funded studies, all based on state-of-the-art, uniform data acquisition protocols. The Neuroimaging Core will perform thorough quality checks and detailed processing of the in-vivo and ex-vivo MRI data in the database to generate rich output on the macro-structural, micro-structural, chemical, and functional characteristics of the older adult brain. The proposed Neuroimaging Core will build upon strengths of the Rush ADCC including A) longitudinal clinical assessment of persons who enroll without dementia, B) longitudinal ante-mortem biofluid collection, and C) post-mortem biospecimen collection from large numbers of persons, many without dementia. The Neuroimaging Core of the Rush ADCC will widely distribute all brain MRI data and processing results to investigators within and outside of the Rush ADCC, and will provide neuroimaging expertise in support of research efforts in normal aging, cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, AD and related dementias. The contributions of the Neuroimaging Core will stimulate research that A) develops novel imaging biomarkers of age-related neuropathologies and molecular genetics generated from human brain and blood from the same persons, B) elucidates brain mechanisms supporting cognitive and motor health or leading to decline, C) evaluates the effects of risk factors on the brain, and D) ascertains the role of various brain characteristics in racial/ethnic disparities of cognitive aging related outcomes.