This Cooperative Agreement award, funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) under the Aging Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.866), provides $2,175,074 to support a research project investigating the role of mid-life environmental toxicant exposures on the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD). The project, led by the University of Pennsylvania, will leverage the ongoing Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study to repeatedly measure...
This federal Project Grant award of $817,345, provided by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders (CFDA 93.853) program, aims to identify and understand the role of environmental stressors in the development of Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (ADRD) across urban and rural populations. The study will recruit 600 high-risk participants from Indiana, evenly split between urban...
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a 5-year, $2,278,304 Cooperative Agreement (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to Emory University to investigate the biological mechanisms by which exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). The project, titled "IMPACT-ADRD: Investigating the Multi-omics Perturbations Associated with Complex Environmental Toxicants and Their Contribution to Alzheimer's...
This is a Project Grant awarded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) under the Aging Research federal grant program (CFDA 93.866). The total funding amount is $810,484, and the award period is from September 1, 2024 to May 31, 2028. The grant is funding research to examine racial and ethnic disparities in access to Alzheimer's Special Care Units (SCUs) in nursing homes, and how differences in SCU access contribute to disparities in health outcomes for Black and Hispanic residents with...
This Cooperative Agreement award, provided by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) under CFDA 93.866 Aging Research, aims to prospectively examine the exposome and individual concentrations of multiple environmental contaminants, as well as their molecular mechanisms, in relation to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD). The $2,533,483 award to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York will leverage the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS)...
This Cooperative Agreement award of $763,225 from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) supports research to identify gene-environment interactions (GxE) that contribute to the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The project will use an in vitro "GxE in a dish" model with 100 induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) donors to assess the context-specific function of common genetic variants. Researchers will expose cortical organoids derived from these iPSCs to...
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a $730,089 Project Grant under CFDA 93.866 (Aging Research) to Washington University in St. Louis. The purpose of this 5-year study, titled "LIFE-SPACE, ISOLATION, AND FUNCTIONAL EXPOSOME STUDY IN PRECLINICAL ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND COGNITIVE ENVIRONMENTS (LIFESPACE)", is to examine the use of digital markers from everyday activities, such as driving and physical activity, to identify biological indicators of preclinical Alzheimer's disease...
This Project Grant award of $2,557,260.00 from the National Institute on Aging's Aging Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.866) will support a longitudinal study to investigate the transition from midlife to early late-life and the development of early clinical Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) among diverse populations. The study, led by the University of California, San Francisco, will conduct cognitive assessments and AD/ADRD adjudication on participants in the...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) aims to evaluate the effects of poverty alleviation policies on the risk and disparities of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). The $131,813 award to Trustees of Boston University, awarded on May 1, 2025, will support a research program with two key objectives: In the K99 phase, the researcher will integrate Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Medicare data to quantify state-level...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) provides $3,915,141 to Emory University to investigate the link between air pollution exposure, the blood and brain metabolome, and their effects on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The project aims to answer three key questions: 1) which components of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are most neurotoxic, 2) the role of other air pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone,...
ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES FOR INDIVIDUAL COGNITIVE HEALTH/RESILIENCE (ENRICH) - PROJECT SUMMARY EXCESS RISK FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS (ADRD) PERSISTS AMONG BLACK AND LATINO OLDER ADULTS, A POPULATION PROJECTED TO MORE THAN DOUBLE BY 2060. ADRD PREVENTION RESEARCH HAS FOCUSED ON INDIVIDUAL FACTORS SUCH AS HYPERTENSION, WITH LESS ATTENTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS. YET BOTH THE DISTRIBUTION OF INDIVIDUAL FACTORS AND THE EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUAL FACTORS ARE POTENTIALLY SHAPED BY FEATURES OF THE RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT-SUCH AS GREEN SPACE, AIR POLLUTION, AMBIENT TEMPERATURE, NOISE, WALKABILITY, NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITIES, ACCESS TO TRANSIT, AND NEIGHBORHOOD DEPRIVATION. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS MAY ACUTELY SHAPE ADRD RISK IN BLACK AND LATINO COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES DUE TO SYSTEMIC RACISM. COMBINATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL- AND INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL FACTORS MAY EXACERBATE VULNERABILITY WITH AGE TO COGNITIVE DECLINE AND LOSS OF INSTRUMENTAL AND BASIC ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING (ADLS) WHICH ARE DEPENDENT ON COGNITION. PRIOR EVIDENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND ADRD RISK COMES FROM PREDOMINANTLY WHITE SAMPLES, AND EVALUATES ONE FACTOR AT A TIME, EVEN THOUGH ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ARE EXPERIENCED IN COMBINATION. THESE EXPOSURE COMBINATIONS ARE PART OF THE EXPOSOME-THE TOTALITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES THAT ARE EXPERIENCED ACROSS THE LIFE-COURSE. STUDIES ON HOW THE EXPOSOME SHAPES INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL RISK FACTORS FOR ADRD RISK ARE UNUSUAL, AND STUDIES THAT COMPARE ACROSS RACIAL/ETHNIC GROUPS ARE SCARCE. TO ADDRESS THIS SIGNIFICANT GAP, WE PROPOSE TO LINK TIME-VARYING HIGH-RESOLUTION ENVIRONMENTAL METRICS TO FIVE NIH-FUNDED RACIALLY AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE COHORTS IN THE US: HEALTH AND RETIREMENT STUDY (HRS), THE REASONS FOR GEOGRAPHIC AND RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN STROKE (REGARDS), THE KAISER HEALTHY AGING AND DIVERSE LIFE EXPERIENCES (KHANDLE) COHORT, THE STUDY OF HEALTHY AGING IN AFRICAN AMERICANS (STAR), AND THE MULTI-ETHNIC STUDY OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS (MESA; COMBINED N=82,500). THIS STUDY WILL EVALUATE HOW THE EXPOSOME SHAPES THE RISK OF COGNITIVE DECLINE (AIM 1), INDEPENDENCE LOSS IN ADLS (AIM 2) AND MRI BIOMARKERS OF BRAIN ATROPHY (AIM 3) IN RACIALLY/ETHNICALLY DIVERSE GROUPS.6 OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT PROTECTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS (HIGH LEVELS OF GREEN SPACE, WALKABILITY, NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITIES, AND ACCESS TO TRANSIT, AND LOW LEVELS OF AIR POLLUTION, AMBIENT TEMPERATURE, NOISE, AND NEIGHBORHOOD DEPRIVATION) WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH BETTER COGNITIVE OUTCOMES, BETTER INDIVIDUAL RISK FACTORS, AND ATTENUATED EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUAL RISK FACTORS ON COGNITIVE OUTCOMES DECADES LATER. WE ANTICIPATE THE BENEFITS OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES FOR REDUCING ADRD WILL BE STRONGER AMONG BLACK AND LATINO ADULTS THAN WHITE PARTICIPANTS. THE PROPOSED STUDY WILL IDENTIFY MODIFIABLE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT MAY REDUCE RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES IN ADRD. THE COMPREHENSIVE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SPATIAL DATASETS DEVELOPED IN THIS PROJECT WILL BE APPLICABLE TO OTHER EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES THAT CONSIDER BIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL PATHWAYS THROUGH WHICH THE ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS ADRD RISK.