Portable and modular UDS Data Collection software to increase collaboration and engagement of Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center research software engineers

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PROJECT SUMMARY This is an administrative supplement application to the University of Kentucky Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (UK-ADRC), submitted in response to NOT-OD-22-068, Administrative Supplements to Support Enhancement of Software Tools for Open Science. We are requesting funds to support the Data Management and Statistics (DMS) Core for data management activities relevant to NOT-OD-22-068. The UK-ADRC is an experienced and collaborative Center whose principal mission is to provide an environment and core resources that catalyze innovative research, outreach, education and clinical programs. Our overarching theme is Transitions from Normal to Late-Life Multi-Etiology Dementia. Our well-characterized, longitudinal cohort and historically strong neuropathology program focused on normal aging, preclinical disease states and early cognitive transitions have been central to our success in defining early pathogenic mechanisms underlying the transitions from normal cognitive aging to impairment. In addition, these efforts have been a driving force in our recognition of the heterogeneity and multiple pathologies that characterize late-life dementia. Our strong and active DMS Core is critical for integration of the ADRC Cores and is vital to the success of the UK-ADRC. Over the years, ADRC data collection has grown in scope, scale, and complexity to include not just collection of UDS data but a multitude of parallel data collections covering clinical, imaging, biospecimens, biomarker, and biometric data across the ADRC longitudinal cohort as well as other related research studies. The DMS Core has developed a cloud-based .NET Core MVC web application to collect UDS data in a way that works within an existing enterprise ecosystem with varied interconnected data sources and stores. We propose here enhancements to the codebase that include refactoring the codebase for interoperability, adding automated testing tools for sustainable community engagement, and implementing containerization to facilitate a wide range of deployment environments. The specific aims of the supplement are: AIM 1: Increase software interoperability by refactoring current codebase to decouple the data access layer from the presentation layer. AIM 2: Promote ADRC developer community engagement by adding automated testing tools to prepare codebase for external contributions. AIM 3: Increase portability and ADRC adoption of software through containerization. These software tools will be extremely useful not just to the UK-ADRC, but to the national ADRC community by enhancing the ability to integrate data within a robust large-scale research environment.