National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY Over the past 23 years, the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) has collaborated with 42 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) across the country to build one of the largest (46,000+ participants), oldest, and most powerful standardized and longitudinal Alzheimer’s datasets in the world. Since our most recent competitive renewal, NACC, working in close coordination with NIA and other ADRC Program stakeholders, has identified significant gaps in areas that are critical for delivering on the full scope of NACC’s U24 parent award. These gaps must be urgently addressed to meet the evolving needs of the ADRC Program and the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) field and to fulfill NACC's mission. NACC will meet these challenges and amplify the impact of NACC and the ADRCs on ADRD research through this administrative supplement by accelerating the modernization of NACC infrastructure and by expanding NACC’s role as the data, collaboration, and communication hub for the ADRC Program. The proposed new research objectives within this administrative supplement involve significant unanticipated expenses. They are staff-intensive and require investments in new platforms. We have developed a comprehensive strategy for restructuring our team and for building the required technical and programmatic infrastructure to respond to these needs. NACC will build a modern streamlined cloud-based NACC Data Platform and Data Front Door for integrating and sharing existing and innovative standardized multimodal data from across the ADRC Program and other ADRD data coordinating centers. We will also improve processes for how participant data flows through NACC. We will collaborate closely with other ADRD Coordinating Centers and initiatives to improve and create new opportunities for integration and dissemination of standard MRI/PET images, genetic, and biomarker data. We will also collaborate with ADRC member sites to pilot multisite digital neuropathology and digital cognitive test data collection and integration. Additionally, we will improve our reach through a reimagined communication and collaboration strategy with new pathways to disseminate impact as well as improve our facilitation of ADRC consortium governance and collaboration with additional support for ADRC groups and initiatives. Finally, we are improving ADRC data diversity by creating onramps for ADRCs to recruit and retain more participants from historically minoritized populations highly impacted by ADRD. Together, this work amplifies NACC’s impact and scope of work as the data, collaboration, and coordination hub for the ADRC Program with the aim of significantly improving ADRC research impact.