$10.7M NIH Grant to Fund Genetic Research in Alzheimer's

The U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging has awarded a five-year, $10.7 million grant to the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health and Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis to explore the genetic roots of Alzheimer's disease, reports Alzheimer's News Today . The researchers will use the grant to perform the first comprehensive genetic study of Alzheimer's via whole genome sequencing. The collaborators intend to find the genes, and their variants, associated with the formation of plaques and tangles. They hope to study up to 5,000 individuals at a high risk for Alzheimer's disease, and for whom biomarker data is available. Washington University Professor Carlos Cruchaga explains, "We plan to use the genetic information to create individual-level predictions to determine the risk of someone developing Alzheimer's disease." The goal is to uncover underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer's and ultimately discover potential drug targets.