Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Columbia Univ.

描述（由申请人提供）：哥伦比亚的ADRC旨在促进和传播阿尔茨海默病和其他与年龄相关的神经退行性疾病和痴呆症的病因、预防和治疗知识。为此，我们保持和遵循多民族和多种族的正常老年人和老年认知障碍患者人群，以建立疾病的自然史作为年龄和遗传组成的函数。在本申请中，我们建议使用各种神经心理学，神经学和成像工具来检查AD的最早阶段，并在其一生中跟踪这些受试者。在死亡时，将进行全面的神经病理学检查，并将疾病的临床、放射学和病理学观点相关联。从这些受试者身上获得的组织和DNA将可用于研究该疾病的生物学和遗传学。ADRC内的个人研究项目将研究AD的细胞和分子生物学的各个方面，以及使用MRI对人类受试者的脑功能进行深入分析。参加ADRC的患者将有机会参加痴呆症新药和治疗方法的试验。这些患者的认知状态得到充分证明，使其非常适合纳入临床试验。哥伦比亚ADRC的教育和信息核心致力于教育非专业和医学界关于AD，关于研究的最新进展和关于AD患者的护理。ADRC作为哥伦比亚内外科学家的资源，通过提供组织和其他生物样本，通过提供仔细记录的患者人群以及众多研讨会和临床病理学相关会议，鼓励新的研究途径。遗传学核心是ADRC和ADC家族招募和鉴定的主要组织者。根据ADRC向哥伦比亚和外部的研究团体提供符合HIPAA的数据组织和统计咨询服务。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ADRC at Columbia seeks to advance and disseminate knowledge of the causes, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and other age-related neurodegenerative and dementing disorders. Toward this end, we maintain and follow a multi-ethnic and multi-racial patient population of normal elderly and the elderly with cognitive disorders to establish the natural history of the disease as a function of age and of genetic makeup. In this application we propose to use a variety of neuropsychological, neurological and imaging tools to examine the earliest stages of AD and to follow these subjects throughout their lives. At death a comprehensive neuropathologic examination will be performed and the clinical, radiological and pathological views of the disease correlated. Tissues and DNA obtained from these subjects will be available for research on the biology and genetics of the disease. Individual research projects within the ADRC will examine various aspects of the cellular and molecular biology of AD as well as an in-depth analysis of brain function in human subjects using MRI. Patients enrolled in the ADRC will have the opportunity to participate in trials of new drugs and treatments for dementing diseases as they become available. The well-documented cognitive status of these patients makes them highly suitable for inclusion in clinical trials. The Education and Information Core of the Columbia ADRC endeavors to educate both lay and medical communities about AD, about the latest advances in research and about the care of the AD patient. The ADRC serves as a resource for scientists with Columbia as well as outside of it, encouraging new research avenues by the award of pilot grants, by providing tissues and other biological samples, by providing access to a carefully documented patient population and by numerous seminars and Clinical Pathological Correlation Conferences. The Genetics Core serves as the major organizer of family recruitment and identification across the ADRCs and ADCs. HIPAA compliant data organization and statistical consulting services are provided under the ADRC to the research community at Columbia and external to it.