2021 Transformative Aging and Neurodegeneration Pilot Grants
The Virginia Alzheimer's Disease Center (VADC) and the UVA Brain Institute awarded seed funding to investigator-initiated projects from researchers across UVA who are working in the areas of dementia, neurocognition, or data science related to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). These projects focus on themes of the VADC and NAPA research milestones and are collaborative, multidisciplinary, or show the potential to generate transformative science in the area of AD/ADRD.
VADC Basic Science Pilot Funding
George Bloom, PhD - VADC Basic Science Core Leader
This project focuses on the first aim of the VADC Basic Science Core: to connect resources with Alzheimer's disease researchers at UVA. The project will create and maintain a registry of resources that are available at UVA for research on AD. Through the registry common resources will be identified, compiled, and maintained to be made available on short notice to all researchers who might want to use them.
Advancing Recruitment Science and Community Engagement in Alzheimer's Disease Research Among Patients and Caregivers Within Diverse Populations
Ishan Williams, PhD, Randy Jones, PhD, and Travonia Brown-Hughes, PhD
The mission of the Outreach, Recruitment & Engagement (ORE) core is to provide the expertise to consistently facilitate enrollment and outreach methods, to facilitate engagement, and to understand partnerships with populations that often bear a disproportionate burden from AD. The ORE core will develop relationships to help coordinate, engage and provide awareness for participation in clinical trials. These partnerships will be strengthened in the ORE Core by providing engagement opportunities intended to address the knowledge of AD, its impact on marginalized communities, and ensuring that clinical research is accessible and disseminated to the community at large.
Single-cell Assessment of the Signaling Response to Alzheimer's Disease Insult
Christopher Deppmann, PhD, and Eli Zunder, PhD
In their project they will apply a neural mass cytometry platform to characterize AD mouse models they have been studying in their laboratory for almost a decade. Using this approach, they expect to identify critical pathways in the development and propagation of AD pathology, which could provide novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
Community Database for Retrospective Brain MRI Analysis in Memory Disorder
Jason Druzgal, MD, PhD
In his project, Dr. Druzgal proposes to to quantify the amount of neuroimaging and clinical data on memory disorder patients archived in the Picture Archiving and communication system (PACS) and EPIC systems. He will determine the amount of useful neuroimaging data available at UVA and organize it along with relevant clinical measures in a usable database that is accessible to researchers at UVA.
Molecular Mechanism of Circadian Disruption in Alzheimer's Disease
Ali Guler, PhD, and Ignacio Provencio, PhD
In their proposal Dr. Guler and Dr. Provencio will work to establish the changes that occur in SCN circadian gene expression and neurophysiology during AD progression and test whether restricted light exposure and timed food access re-establishes these molecular circadian oscillations in the 5xFAD AD mouse model. This work will dovetail with their current efforts supported by the Alzheimer's Association aimed at determining the metabolic and cognitive impact of timed light, exercise, and food on male 3xTg-AD mice.
High-Throughput High-Resolution Imaging Human Alzheimer's Tauopathy
Smriti Gupta, PhD, J. Julius Zhu, PhD, Li Gan, PhD, and Chun-Li Zhang, PhD
This project will create the first imaging and analysis system that enables decoding of healthy and diseased cholinergic transmission at human neurons by developing a method that combines their recently developed acetylcholine sensor with their newly established human iPSC-derived cholinergic neuron system and high-throughput high-resolution image analysis algorithms. The project will also document a new tauopathy-mediated synaptic mechanism that leads to Alzheimer's disease.
Effective Strategies Program for Dementia Caregivers (ESP-C) Pilot
Shannon Reilly, PhD, with mentorship from Carol Manning, PhD, and Ishan Williams, PhD
The Effective Strategies Program (ESP) was developed at UVA Health’s Memory and Aging Care Clinic. Through 18 evidence-informed sessions, ESP aims to provide geographically, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse CRs with education about memory loss and dementia, emotional support, and evidence-informed tools to maintain high quality of life and maximize functional independence. This project aims to adapt and pilot the Effective Strategies Program for Caregivers (ESP-C).