UF1NS125512

Washington University University of Texas Southwestern VCID Consortium Site - Project Summary

Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) are the second leading cause of dementia, and a major contributor to Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia. Non-invasive biomarkers are critical for the development of prevention and treatment strategies for VCID.

The first grant cycle of the MarkVCID Consortium identified 11 candidate imaging and fluid biomarkers. In this second grant cycle (RFA-NS-21-005), the VCID Consortium will "...carry out comprehensive multi-site clinical validation of up to six of these 11 biomarkers...."

In response to this RFA, a strong partnership between Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center (WU-UTSW) has been developed to serve as a new site for the Small Vessel VCID Consortium. Both institutions are high-volume tertiary care referral centers that serve large metropolitan areas with racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and urban/rural diversity.

St. Louis and Dallas are located within or adjacent to the Stroke Belt - with significant portions of the population at the highest risk of stroke, cerebrovascular disease, and VCID. Because VCID sits at the interface between cerebrovascular risk and age-related dementia, this partnership leverages strengths in both the cerebrovascular and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) research infrastructures that already exist at WU and UTSW.

Both institutions have active AD research centers, and WU is a StrokeNet Regional Coordinating Center, demonstrating a strong track record of collaborative network-based clinical studies. In addition, investigators from both centers are actively leading several independent longitudinal clinical studies that involve participants with VCID or ADRD.

We have assembled a group of stroke and AD clinicians, clinical investigators, and scientists who have diverse expertise in VCID and AD pathobiology, clinical trials implementation and management, fluid biomarker collection and measurement, MR image acquisition and processing, informatics and data sharing, and statistics.

The collective expertise of the WU-UTSW group will not only permit the implementation of the current VCID biomarker study but will also provide unique proficiencies in refining the design of the current and future biomarker studies for VCID.

We will achieve the goals of the VCID Consortium through the following aims:

AIM 1: Recruit and longitudinally follow a diverse cohort of participants at risk for VCID.

AIM 2: Longitudinally acquire and reproducibly measure fluid-based biomarkers for this VCID cohort.

AIM 3: Longitudinally acquire and reproducibly process MRI-based biomarkers for the VCID cohort.

Washington University

(1) TO SUPPORT EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE (NINDS) INCLUDING: BASIC RESEARCH THAT EXPLORES THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE BRAIN AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, RESEARCH TO UNDERSTAND THE CAUSES AND ORIGINS OF PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH THE GOAL OF PREVENTING THESE DISORDERS, RESEARCH ON THE NATURAL COURSE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS, IMPROVED METHODS OF DISEASE PREVENTION, NEW METHODS OF DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT, DRUG DEVELOPMENT, DEVELOPMENT OF NEURAL DEVICES, CLINICAL TRIALS, AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE. THE INSTITUTE IS THE LARGEST FUNDER OF BASIC NEUROSCIENCE IN THE US AND SUPPORTS RESEARCH ON TOPICS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: DEVELOPMENT OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, INCLUDING NEUROGENESIS AND PROGENITOR CELL BIOLOGY, SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION IN DEVELOPMENT AND PLASTICITY, AND PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH, SYNAPSE FORMATION, FUNCTION, AND PLASTICITY, LEARNING AND MEMORY, CHANNELS, TRANSPORTERS, AND PUMPS, CIRCUIT FORMATION AND MODULATION, BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE, SENSORIMOTOR LEARNING, INTEGRATION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEMS, SLEEP AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, AND SENSORY AND MOTOR SYSTEMS. IN ADDITION, THE INSTITUTE SUPPORTS BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES ON A NUMBER OF DISORDERS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO): STROKE, TRAUMATIC INJURY TO THE BRAIN, SPINAL CORD AND PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS, MOVEMENT DISORDERS, BRAIN TUMORS, CONVULSIVE DISORDERS, INFECTIOUS DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM, IMMUNE DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM, INCLUDING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, DISORDERS RELATED TO SLEEP, AND PAIN. PROGRAMMATIC AREAS, WHICH ARE PRIMARILY SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE, ARE ALSO SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF EXTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES, THE DIVISION OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH, THE DIVISION OF CLINICAL RESEARCH, THE OFFICE OF TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, THE OFFICE OF PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE NEUROSCIENCE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AND THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES. (2) TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (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. TO UTILIZE THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM, TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND 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.

93.853 - Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NNDS) [HHS - NIH]

Saint Louis, Missouri 631101010 United States

Single Zip Code

Small Vessel VCID Biomarker Validation Consortium Sites (U01)(Clinical Trials Not Allowed) (RFA-NS-21-005)

Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 07/31/23 to 07/31/26 and the total obligations have increased 146% from $2,535,125 to $6,224,729.