Core A: Administration Project Summary This Core provides coordination and integration for all other Components and acts to insure that the research and programmatic goals of the Center are met. The administrative leadership consists of the Program Director, two Associate Directors, and the Executive Director. They are assisted by the Leadership Committee that includes these individuals, leaders of the Components and other senior faculty. The Administration Core supports, monitors and coordinates the activities of all components of the ADRC. 1. Establish and maintain administrative structure and governance, including budgetary oversight, future planning, and optimal resource utilization, to meet the overall goals of the Center. 2. Coordinate and integrate all ADRC activities and Components for research, training, information and biospecimen transfer and resource sharing with independent investigators both internal and external to Washington University (WU). 3. Promote scientific and educational interactions (including public relations) and collaborations on Alzheimer disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) at all levels (emphasizing junior investigators) with other faculty at WU, other Alzheimer Disease Centers, the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the Alzheimer's Association (locally and nationally), and the professional and lay communities of the greater St. Louis area. 4. Solicit, evaluate, select, and monitor the Developmental Projects. 5. Provide for periodic external review of the Knight ADRC by its External Advisory Committee and achieve internal review. 6. Ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements for human subjects research, animal welfare, scientific integrity, data and sample sharing, public access policies, and financial policy requirements of WU and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Core A also will monitor and regularly assess how other Knight ADRC components are responsive to NAPA goals.
Overall Project Summary The Washington University Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center (Knight ADRC) initiates, fosters, and supports the performance of innovative, cutting-edge research on Alzheimer disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) with regard to the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The Knight ADRC's efforts thus fully align with the primary goal of the National Alzheimer's Project Act of 2011, “to prevent and effectively treat ADRD by 2025”. We provide well- characterized research participants (persons with symptomatic AD and age-matched controls), their clinical, psychometric, and imaging data, and their tissue (DNA, CSF, plasma, dermal fibroblasts, iPSCs, brain tissue) to research projects. We also provide intellectual and financial support to scientists at Washington University, at other Alzheimer Disease Centers, and the research community nationally and internationally and engage in formal and informal collaborations, including multi-disciplinary/multi-Center studies and the initiatives sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, the National Alzheimer Coordinating Center, and the National Centralize Repository for ADRD. Historically, our Center has focused on the earliest stages of dementia to identify the initial clinical and pathologic changes that distinguish AD from normal aging. Our approach is balanced between clinical and basic science domains with emphasis on interdisciplinary efforts. We will continue our training of students, fellows and junior faculty in clinical and basic science research skills. We will continue to engage in outreach activities to transfer information on ADRD to lay and professional audiences. We are committed to assuring that our research cohort reflects the racial diversity of the greater metropolitan St. Louis area and will continue activities that promote the inclusion of these populations in research. This renewal application includes seven Cores, plus the new Research Education Component (REC): A: Administration, B: Clinical, C: Data Management and Statistics, D: Neuropathology, E: Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement, F: Biomarker, G: Genetics and High Throughput -Omics.
