Alzheimers Disease (AD) presently affects over 5 million individuals in USA alone, posing a significant burden to patients, families, and the society. It is clear that treatments would require early detection of AD at stages even decades before onset. Modern advanced neuroimaging methods offer the opportunity to study diverse brain changes present in aging and prodromal AD in ways that were previously impossible.
We aim to harmonize large data sets and capture the heterogeneity of brain aging and prodromal AD patterns. We will establish normative aging curves for various neuroimaging measures.
Our lab is an international leader in development of neuroimaging tools for disease prediction and monitoring. Sensitive tools for pathological aging or early AD prediction will help in the development of individualized medicine.
This proposed research will allow the neuroimaging community to place each scan into a manageable coordinate system, and relate his/her imaging pattern coordinates to cognition, clinical progression, risk factors, and ultimately response to treatments for Alzheimers Disease.
Within one year of receipt of UK Biobank data, region of interest (ROI) segmentations, brain ageing prediction measures (SPARE-BA), Alzherimers disease measure (SPARE-AD) and functional networks will be calculated. The following year we will investigate the associations with cognition and other life style risk factors.