ABSTRACT - ADMINISTRATIVE CORE The Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Administrative Core provides leadership, oversight, and infrastructure support for each of the Duke/UNC ADRC’s five Cores (Clinical; Neuropathology; Data Management and Statistical (DMS); Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement (ORE); and Biomarker Cores) and its Research Education Component (REC). The Administrative Core is responsible for cultivating and promoting “Center-ness” around the theme of identifying age-related changes across the lifespan that contribute to the development, progression, and experience of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While our theme and cohort studies are focused on AD, the Administrative Core ensures that the Duke/UNC ADRC meets the needs of a broader community of researchers studying any aspect of AD or Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD+ADRD). To this end, the Administrative Core conducts annual needs assessments, provides a “concierge service” for local or non-local investigators interested in accessing ADRC expertise and resources, oversees the process of timely and compliant sharing of data and resources, and administers a Developmental Project program to stimulate and support innovative lines of AD+ADRD research. To ensure regular assessment of the Cores’ and REC’s effectiveness and accessibility, and formal annual evaluation and subsequent response of the Duke/UNC ADRC, the Administrative Core monitors progress of all Cores/REC and engages an Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) of institutional leaders and leading AD+ADRD scientists and an External Advisory Board (EAB) of both scientific and lay members. The Administrative Core Specific Aims are to: 1) Provide coordination as well as scientific and administrative leadership and oversight to ensure operational efficiency, fiscal responsibility, and regulatory compliance; 2) Support and promulgate a culture of rigorous AD+ADRD research; 3) Solicit, select, administer, and monitor developmental projects (DP), from a pool of high-caliber, creative investigators; 4) Sustain and promote connection between the Duke/UNC ADRC and external stakeholders; 5) Assess and refine the Duke/UNC ADRC program through an annual evaluation process. A critical role of the Administrative Core in this new ADRC will be to lead the process of identifying, nurturing, and evaluating “pockets of opportunity” with an eye toward how such areas should be developed and operationalized, possibly as new Cores or ancillary studies, as the Center evolves.
ABSTRACT - OVERALL Before it kills, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) exacts a devastating toll on patients, families, caregivers, and communities. Moreover, even in 2020, there is still no prevention or cure for AD. To meet this challenge, the new Duke/University of North Carolina ADRC is poised to transform AD-related research and services across the Research Triangle and Eastern North Carolina. The new Duke/University of North Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (Duke/UNC ADRC)’s theme is identifying age-related changes across the lifespan that mediate development, progression, and experience of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In support of this theme, the Duke/UNC ADRC clinical cohort design and biomarker collection equips investigators with data and resources to discover new opportunities to intervene in the years before AD symptoms manifest. A related Center goal is to identify how factors that arise in early and mid-life contribute to racial and urban/rural disparities in dementia. The Center plans to provide infrastructure and resources aligned with the following specific aims: 1) Stimulate and support research on AD and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD+ADRD) for investigators from many fields by providing access to well-characterized subjects, curated data and biospecimens from individuals across a wide age-spectrum with and without dementia, with emphasis on pre-clinical and early disease; 2) Attract and prepare creative, well-trained investigators to conduct high caliber research on AD+ADRD and 3) Improve lives impacted by age-related cognitive decline and increase the inclusiveness of this research. The Center’s Cores (Clinical, Biomarker, Neuropathology, Data Management and Statistics (DMS), Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement (ORE), Administrative) and Research Education Component (REC) work collectively to pursue these aims, aided by our team’s decades of dementia outreach across North Carolina, strong existing ties to minority and rural communities, and institutional resources and experts in disparities research. The Center’s Clinical, Biomarker, and Neuropathology Cores, in conjunction with the ORE Core will support collection of images, biospecimens, and fluids from over 500 well-characterized participants across a broad age range. The DMS Core will support data curation and analysis by providing integrated data management and statistical/bioinformatics collaborative expertise. The REC will develop a robust pipeline of future leaders in AD+ADRD research through an innovative combination of widely disseminated curricular elements and more personalized mentoring experiences. The REC’s educational platforms extend to three additional Universities in our catchment area. The ADRC’s Cores and the REC, supported by the Administrative Core, will work in a coordinated manner to generate and store data and resources from people with and without dementia or AD risk, share data and expertise as widely as possible, and ultimately contribute back to the AD community through dissemination of results, education, and health services.
ABSTRACT - Research Education Component The primary goal of the Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Research Education Component (REC) is to develop future leaders in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (AD+ADRD) research, including within the Center’s theme of identifying age-related changes across the lifespan that mediate the development, progression and experience of AD. There are unique challenges facing AD+ADRD research, including limited training in research principles, a lack of early-career exposure to AD+ADRD research, and research silos that impede knowledge transfer between basic and clinical investigators. To overcome these challenges, the REC research training program will broadly disseminate a foundational AD+ADRD research curriculum spanning both basic and clinical research, delivered to five universities across North Carolina and made available to the public (Aim 1). In addition to delivering broad cross-campus AD+ADRD research education, the REC will solicit “REC Scholar” applications and select 2-4 scholars annually from talented early-career AD+ADRD investigators (Aim 2). REC Scholars will receive intensive research training and tailored professional development under the guidance of a faculty mentorship team comprised of a clinical researcher and a basic scientist. The REC will expand the reach of its training program by leveraging existing training assets at Duke. The REC’s close integration with the other Duke/UNC ADRC cores provides synergistic interactions with key research training opportunities in specimen biobanking, statistical analysis, study design, pathologic sample analysis, patient recruitment, and research dissemination. The REC will expand AD+ADRD researcher perspectives and the workforce by partnering with UNC Pembroke, NC Central University and East Carolina University (Aim 3). Investigators and trainees at these institutions will participate in monthly research colloquia, the online curriculum, monthly journal clubs, research consultancies that leverage Duke/UNC expertise to augment AD+ADRD research at other sites, and the annual Symposium for Learning about Alzheimer’s disease-related Medical research at Duke and UNC (SLAM-DUNC), hosted by each institution in turn. REC programming will foster interest in AD+ADRD research and cultivate the multidisciplinary expertise needed in its next generation of leaders. By fostering interactions among investigators from different disciplines through the REC’s innovative programming, the REC will develop new AD+ADRD researchers prepared to engage in interdisciplinary collaborations aimed at improving health outcomes and reducing disparities by bringing novel treatments to the clinic and novel preventive measures to the population.
