Grant: Catalyst Grant: Secondary Analysis of Neuroimaging Databases

Alzheimer's disease affects about 1 in 5 people age 75-84 and 2 in 5 people over 85. The treatments that are currently available for Alzheimer's are more effective when they are started early. Our goal in this study is to develop new diagnostic and prognostic tools that can help clinicians to treat Alzheimer's disease more quickly and more effectively. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), the Australian Imaging Biomarkers & Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL), and the Open Access Series of Imaging Studies (OASIS) are three research projects on Alzheimer's disease. These projects assembled large databases of brain imaging scans as well as genetic and metabolomic data from hundreds of patients with Alzheimer's and healthy individuals. ADNI, AIBL, and OASIS have generously made these very valuable, expensive datasets available to the research community. We will use advanced machine learning algorithms, also known as artificial intelligence, to analyze these datasets. Specifically, we will look for biomarkers that could allow for earlier, more accurate diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer's disease thereby allowing for earlier, more effective treatment for the condition.