The ACT annual symposium: a living, learning, national collaboratory to advance Alzheimer's disease and brain aging research

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Project Summary/Abstract Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnoses and deaths are on the rise – 5.4 million are currently living with the disease and 700,000 will die in 2016 alone. There is no sure-fire method for prevention, early detection, or cure. The Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study has recruited over 5,000 adults over the age of 65 since 1994, and follows them every 2 years for new dementia and AD diagnoses. ACT data contribute to a living, learning co-laboratory, which serves the research community as a valuable scientific resource for AD and brain aging research. For the past four years, we have held an annual ACT Symposium to highlight new ACT resources, innovative research findings, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. We have done this with minimal support from the ACT parent U01. This conference grant will provide new support for our growing symposia for the next three years. The specific objectives of our conference grant are to: 1) promote appropriate scientific use and understanding of ACT data; 2) promote collaborations across scientific disciplines, institutions, and studies; and 3) provide opportunities for feedback on ongoing and planned work including analyses in progress and new grant ideas particularly for junior investigators. This new funding source will provide support for us to move our conference location to a larger, more technologically advanced facility. It will also provide travel stipends for investigators traveling from out of town so that we may extend our reach to new external investigators. We anticipate that future conferences (in late summer of 2017, 2018, and 2019 in Seattle, Washington) will cover hot topics in aging and dementia research such as resilience, imaging, dementia subtypes, molecular phenotypes, and traumatic brain injury – topic to which ACT is making significant contributions. Long term, expanding our ACT symposia will increase use of the ACT living laboratory, and advance AD and brain aging research.