U19AG073153

Study to Uncover Pathways to Exceptional Cognitive Resilience in Aging (Superaging) - Project Summary (Overall):

The primary goal is to establish a multicenter Superaging Consortium to identify behavioral, health, biologic, genetic, environmental, socioeconomic, psychosocial, anatomic, and neuropathologic factors associated with superaging. These goals will be achieved through an organizational structure with 3 cores (Administrative/Biostatistics, Clinical/Imaging, and Biospecimen/Neuropathology) and 2 research projects.

The consortium will enroll 500 participants across 4 US sites located in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia, and the Canadian site in Southwest Ontario, with a focus on the enrollment of Black superagers and cognitively average elderly controls with similar demographics (controls).

The Administrative/Biostatistics Core will provide governance and fiscal oversight, maintain scientific integrity, and create a centralized biostatistics and database infrastructure to harmonize the goals and activities of the cores, sites, and projects, with each other, with the NIA, and with extramural collaborators.

The Clinical/Imaging Core will standardize criteria for the uniform cross-site and multidisciplinary characterization of superagers, streamline recruitment including that of Black participants, enter relevant information in the comprehensive database, support co-enrollment into Project 1, and encourage collaborative ventures aiming to understand the factors that promote superaging.

The Biospecimen/Neuropathology Core will collect and bank brain tissue and blood products from superaging and control cases, according to optimized procedures. It will render pathological diagnoses, quantitate selected markers of neurodegeneration and neuronal structure, coordinate the analyses of plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease, and make specimens available for collaborative investigations.

Project 1 will use state-of-the-art wearable technology to obtain real-time measurements in the course of everyday life to characterize quantitative parameters related to sleep, physical activity, autonomic responsivity, and social engagement to determine whether superagers have relatively preserved and quantitatively determined physiologic and behavioral 'complexity' compared to controls.

Project 2 will use transcriptomic, genetic, and protein profiling approaches to test the hypothesis that superagers will demonstrate significant molecular differences in their central and peripheral immune and inflammatory system parameters compared to matched control and Alzheimer's disease participants.

By identifying neurobiologic features that contribute to superior memory performance in old age, outcomes from this consortium will help isolate factors that promote successful cognitive aging and perhaps also prevent age-related brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

University Of Chicago

TO ENCOURAGE BIOMEDICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING DIRECTED TOWARD GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE AGING PROCESS AND THE DISEASES, SPECIAL PROBLEMS, AND NEEDS OF PEOPLE AS THEY AGE. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS. THE DIVISION OF AGING BIOLOGY EMPHASIZES UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF AGING. THE DIVISION OF GERIATRICS AND CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY SUPPORTS RESEARCH TO IMPROVE THE ABILITIES OF HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS TO RESPOND TO THE DISEASES AND OTHER CLINICAL PROBLEMS OF OLDER PEOPLE. THE DIVISION OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT WILL LEAD TO GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT BOTH THE PROCESS OF GROWING OLD AND THE PLACE OF OLDER PEOPLE IN SOCIETY. THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE FOSTERS RESEARCH CONCERNED WITH THE AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AS WELL AS THE RELATED SENSORY, PERCEPTUAL, AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH AGING AND HAS A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.866 - Aging Research

National Institute on Aging (NIA) [HHS - NIH]

Chicago, Illinois 606375418 United States

Single Zip Code

Network for Identification, Evaluation, and Tracking of Older Persons with Superior Cognitive Performance for Their Chronological Age (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (RFA-AG-21-015)

Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 05/31/26 to 08/31/26 and the total obligations have increased 421% from $3,659,028 to $19,055,114.