Founded in 1985, the UW ADRC is one of 42 Alzheimer's research centers funded by the National Institute on Aging. ADRCs are major sources of discovery into the nature of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and the development of more effective approaches to prevention, diagnosis, care, and therapy. The ADRC is grateful to the people who participate in our studies on how memory and thinking may change over time.
- Examining the causes of Alzheimer's disease and the processes by which the disease leads to declines in memory and thinking
- Developing more effective approaches for prevention, care, and treatment
- Creating shared resources that support education and research on dementia
- Coordinating research efforts with scientists both locally and across the country
The 9 “Cores” of the ADRC work together to conduct research efforts:
The Administrative Core provides leadership and expert support to ensure that the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center is successful in pursuing its vision of understanding and preventing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
We aim to build a research infrastructure, promote discovery, share with the community of physicians and scientists dedicated to developing solutions for Alzheimer's disease, and propel advancement through commitment, collaboration, and synergy with the national ADC Program. We do the important behind-the-scenes work that enables researchers to concentrate on science—things like organizing meetings; recruiting new faculty; awarding pilot grants to promising researchers; providing expert grant management, fiscal support, and regulatory oversight; and facilitating collaborations between the Cores, Projects, and other national and international research efforts.
The Biomarker Core is focused on research into fluid biomarkers (blood, plasma, and CSF) and discovery of novel markers of Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). This Core oversees the routine processing of biomarkers markers.
The ADRC Clinical Core explores innovative approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and disease prevention by partnering with people who have normal memory and thinking and those who have memory concerns or are living with dementia.
In order to learn more about diseases that cause memory loss and dementia, we are looking for volunteers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and ages who are willing to participate in research. It is important to study a diverse group of people so that the information we learn will benefit everyone.
The ADRC is grateful to the people who participate in our studies on how memory and thinking may change over time. The process of research participation generates a large amount of data, a source of information, on brain health. The job of stewarding this precious data is so important that an entire wing of the ADRC is devoted to this work: The Data Management and Statistics (DMS) Core.
The first job of the DMS Core is to ensure that information collected from our research participants is correctly entered and stored safely and securely in UW secure databases. The DMS team also prepares study data for other researchers to use to make scientific discoveries about brain health and Alzheimer’s disease.
Members include statisticians, computer specialists, and staff who interact with the cores, projects, and pilot projects of the UW ADRC. In their various roles, they are responsible for data management, statistical consulting, and some analysis for projects, cores, and other users of the resources of the UW ADRC.
The Imaging Core serves to further the ADRC’s aim to promote research into different genetic and pathophysiologic mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s-disease related dementias at the UW and nationally.
This aim involves work to identify the topographic phenotypes of AD/ADRD cases and related anatomic effects that may stratify participants by pathological mechanism. It will also estimate a measure of cognitive reserve from imaging and cognitive data. The Imaging Core will integrate anonymized multimodal imaging, cognitive, genetic, pathology and cell biology data from several other ADRC Cores to describe topographic and multidisciplinary phenotypes. The project will include a Bioinformatics component to integrate, make accessible, and advise on analysis of phenotypes. The ADRC will provide imaging expertise in PET and MRI to ADRC-affiliated studies.
The ADRC Native Engagement and Partnership Core will undertake an innovative effort to help increase American Indian and Alaska Native recruitment into the research cohort, enhancing representation of this population in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center. The ADRC NEPC is led by a group of Native health researchers at the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health, Washington State University.
All elements of this endeavor are guided by the principles of participatory research methods – a bi-directional exchange of ideas and knowledge - for example, by conducting focus groups and interviews with Native elders and caregivers about their perspectives and attitudes about participating in Alzheimer’s research.
The ORE Core operates as the public face of the UW ADRC, actively facilitating community and professional outreach and education programs so that UW ADRC researchers may find and then enroll people who might be interested in helping develop ways of treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease, particularly people from minority communities that have been historically underserved by researchers, such as the African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Latino and Hispanic communities. To this end, Core members collaborate extensively with the Alzheimer's Association, the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) at Washington State University , and the UW ADRC Native Research and Resource Core. In addition to recruiting and retaining research participants, the ORE Core works to educate professional clinicians and family caregivers in the recognition and treatment of Alzheimer’s. The ORE, in partnership with the Memory and Brain Wellness Center, published Dimensions, a magazine that features new developments in ADRC research, clinical care, and community education programs. Our community newsletter is available in both English and Spanish.
The Precision Neuropathology Core provides diagnostic expertise, facilitates research, teaches and mentors trainees, and develops innovative research approaches to Alzheimer’s disease. Members of the Precision Neuropathology Core examine targeted spinal fluid biomarkers in the UW ADRC spinal fluid bank and provide targeted genetic testing relevant to Alzheimer’s and related neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia. In other words, this Core seeks ways to enhance the research value of tissue and body fluid donations from cognitively healthy individuals and patients so that researchers may begin to develop effective means of precision medicine for neurodegenerative diseases.
The UW ADRC’s Research Education Component (REC) offers a program focused on developing the next generation of Alzheimer’s researchers, supporting the assimilation of established researchers from outside fields into the Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias research community, and allowing trainees and investigators at outside institutions access to the dynamic research and scientific environment of the UW ADRC.