Researchers Receive More Than $53 Million to Study Role of White Matter Lesions in Dementia

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) School of Medicine will receive a $53.6 million grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health to explore the role of incidental white matter lesions (WMLs) in dementia among people with cognitive ailments, reports Newswise . "Our team has been at the forefront of genetic studies of WMLs for two decades," explained UTHealth Professor Myriam Fornage. "Through the genetic risk profiles we will develop, we will have an opportunity to apply what we have discovered and improve the precision with which we identify patients with a higher prior probability of cognitive impairment and dementia. At the same time, we will be contributing new resources for dementia research everywhere." UC Davis Professor Charles DeCarli will be principal investigator. "This grant gives us the chance to study WMLs from every angle and definitively understand their roles in age- and disease-related cognitive decline and risk for future dementia," he said. "It's the culmination of our three decades of research that has given us great directions, but no final answers yet." DeCarli and Fornage will study patients with WMLs on magnetic resonance imaging scans and issues about cognitive symptoms, but no dementia diagnosis; it will be the first large study of a diverse population on the long-term impact of WMLs on thinking and dementia risk.