The National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded a $3,109,079 Project Grant under the Aging Research program (CFDA 93.866) to the Regents of the University of California at Riverside (UC Riverside) to conduct research modeling the role of age at traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).
The research aims to use a closed head injury TBI mouse model to examine how Alzheimer's disease risk factors like APOE and amyloid-beta accelerate the progression to ADRD. The project will assess cognitive, neuroimaging, and fluid biomarker outcomes to validate the TBI model's construct and face validity in replicating human ADRD trajectories. UC Riverside is collaborating with Indiana University as a grant sub-awardee to contribute their expertise in areas like biostatistical support and analysis. This research is expected to provide a deeply phenotyped TBI animal model and important insights into the mechanisms linking TBI to ADRD development across the lifespan.