• To apply to get access to AIBL Data
  (for users with ADNI access already):
  https://ida.loni.ucla.edu/collaboration/access/appApply.jsp?project=AIBL
• To apply to get access to both AIBL & ADNI Data together
  (for users who DO NOT already have an ADNI account):
  https://ida.loni.ucla.edu/collaboration/access/appApply.jsp?project=AIBL&project=ADNI
• To apply to get access to just ADNI Data
  (for users who only want ADNI access and do not already have it):
  https://ida.loni.ucla.edu/collaboration/access/appApply.jsp?project=ADNI

Some of the leading-edge technologies under study are brain-imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), including FDG-PET (which measures glucose metabolism in the brain); PET using a radioactive compound (PiB) that measures brain beta-amyloid; and structural MRI. Brain scans are showing scientists how the brain’s structure and function change as AD starts and progresses.

Biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid are revealing other changes that could identify which patients with MCI will develop Alzheimer’s. Scientists are looking at levels of beta-amyloid and tau in cerebrospinal fluid. (Abnormal amounts of the amyloid and tau proteins in the brain are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.)

The next step is to scan and analyze the brains of people with early mild cognitive impairment (eMCI). With a generous grant from American Recovery and Reinvestment Funds ADNI researchers will be able to study people with eMCI. This new grant expands the scope of ongoing research under ADNI by allowing for the enrollment of participants at an earlier stage of MCI, when symptoms are milder.

Furthermore, the funding for this new grant will allow ADNI investigators to extend the length of the original study to better assess changes in individuals over time. All of the participants will have neuroimaging scans and blood and cerebrospinal fluid analyses to look for changes in the brain.

The overall impact of the added funding will be increased knowledge of the sequence and timing of events leading to MCI and AD, development of better clinical and imaging/fluid biomarker methods for early detection and for monitoring the progression of these conditions. This will facilitate clinical trials of treatments to slow disease progression and will ultimately contribute to the prevention of AD.

In 2009, ADNI made a significant step forward in developing a test to help diagnose the beginning stages of AD sooner and more accurately by measuring levels of two biomarkers–tau and beta-amyloid proteins–in cerebrospinal fluid.

For more information on the clinical research sites taking part in ADNI and that are looking for study participants, go to http://www.adcs.org/Studies/ImagineADNI.aspx

• Click here to download the Consolidated MRI Recalls Spreadsheet

David M. Holtzman, MD
Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor
and Chairman Dept. of Neurology,
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, MO

David A. Bennett, M.D.
Director, Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center
Robert C. Borwell Professor of Neurological Sciences
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, IL

Description: Recent findings in the field of human amyloid imaging will be presented and discussed. The format will be brief talks with Q&A along with two keynote speakers. Abstract submission is now open. Please note that all submissions must be sent before 22 February 2008 and all authors will be notified of acceptance by 3 March 2008.

See the README file included in the download for additional information.