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 diverse 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 diverse individuals across a wide age-spectrum with and without dementia, with emphasis on pre-clinical and early disease; 2) Attract and prepare diverse, 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 and diverse 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, including two majority minority institutions. 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.
