IUSM TREAT-AD Center

Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis IN

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The strategic goal of the Indiana University School of Medicine Purdue University TaRget Enablement to Accelerate Therapy Development for Alzheimer's Disease (IUSM-Purdue TREAT-AD) Center is to integrate sophisticated disease biology and drug discovery capabilities to create Target Enabling Packages (TEPs) for the study of emerging Alzheimer's disease hypotheses (beyond amyloid beta) and create the foundation for new classes of therapeutics. The IUSM-Purdue TREAT-AD Center has established itself as a strategic and operational partner for NIA supported consortia. By design, we provide drug discovery capability to bridge the new disease target hypothesis work of AMP-AD with well characterized molecular entities for evaluation in cellular and in vivo models based on human pathology, genetics, and translational biomarkers. To accomplish this mission, we have assembled a world-class team of scientists and capabilities from IUSM, Purdue University, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI). This team has considerable expertise in AD biology, pharma drug discovery and development, and in the core discovery technologies that drive the Center's contributions, deliverables and achievement of milestones. A key advantage and differentiated strength of our Center is the primary scientific coordination and administration through IUSM. This capability concentrates a strong and long-standing commitment to neurodegenerative research through co- presence with the NIA-supported Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Center under the direction of Dr. Andy Saykin, the MODEL-AD consortium under the direction of Dr. Bruce Lamb, and the Longitudinal Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease (LEAD) study under the direction of Dr. Liana Apostolova. Our aims are (1) Create a dynamic portfolio of well characterized neuroinflammation AD drug discovery targets representing novel intervention hypotheses that capitalizes on significant investments in basic research and emerging disease understanding; (2) Perform target validation and enablement studies to prioritize opportunities for therapeutic discovery; (3) Create high quality and well characterized molecules for prioritized targets that meet rigorous milestone criteria and are valued opportunities for further translational investment; (4) Enable global researchers with open access data and Target Enablement Packages (TEPs) to expand on the work of the TREAT-AD Consortium. Collectively, these aims will support the translation of new molecular entities into the clinic that will reduce neurodegeneration and improve cognition, thus advancing the NIH/NIA mission to develop novel therapies for AD.