Phenotyping and Biospecimen Core

Boston University Medical Campus, Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Phenotyping and Biospecimen Core Summary The Phenotyping and Biospecimen (P&B) Core’s primary mission is to leverage two NIA-funded centenarian studies by sifting through their study participants in identifying centenarian cognitive superagers, offspring and offspring spouses for enrollment in the RADCO study, extending their phenotyping with annual uniform neuropsychological testing, plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and facilitating and facilitating neuroimaging and post-mortem neuropathological studies among willing participants. The P&B Core's successful conduct of its six aims is key to RADCO’s investigation of centenarians and their offspring as models of cognitive resilience and resistance to cognitive impairment and AD. Those 6 Specific Aims are: Specific Aim 1. Establish a centenarian cognitive superagers (n=596), centenarians with normal cognition (n=230), offspring superagers (n=480) and offspring spouses (n=144) sample with baseline neuropsychological assessments, other phenotypic data, blood samples, and genetic and biomarker data provided by 2 ongoing NIA-funded centenarian studies. Specific Aim 2. Perform annual Covid-19-safe virtual neurocognitive assessments and other phenotypic data collection uniform with the ILO study and LCCP measures. Also, to enhance the accuracy of the neurocognitive assessments by performing interdisciplinary expert diagnoses consensus conferences. Specific Aim 3. Employing REDCap, manage and perform QC, and make easily but securely available all of the data collected and generated by the RADCO Cores and Projects, including the neuropsychological, neuroimaging, neuropathologic phenotype and biomarker and transcriptomic data. Specific Aim 4. To receive from the ILO+LCCP studies and then longitudinally collect blood samples (centenarians annually, offspring, and offspring spouses every other year) from RADCO participants for use by the two projects. To maintain samples in a biorepository as a sharable resource. Specific Aim 5. Support the RADCO Neuroimaging Core’s aims by recruiting RADCO participants for local neuroimaging and linking scan data to clinical data. Specific Aim 6. Recruit RADCO participants for future brain donation, ensure that postmortem brain removal and delivery occur quickly, and link clinical data to anatomic, pathological, and molecular data generated by the P&B neuropathology efforts. These data will inform the resilient and resistant phenotypes delineated in Project 1. Brain area-specific tissues will be provided for RNA expression studies in Project 2.