IU at the forefront of Alzheimer's research

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias touch the lives of so many in direct and indirect ways.

Our Indiana University School of Medicine investigators are leading the way nationally in research into Alzheimer's and related dementias. Their search for new methods to detect the disease early and discovery of the latest advances to slow and prevent neurodegenerative disorders is changing lives.

Today, we are announcing that Bruce Lamb, executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, and colleagues have received three National Institute on Aging grants -- totaling $8.7 million in new funding -- to further the study of Alzheimer's disease at the IU School of Medicine.

In September, the Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research Center was awarded $15 million from the National Institute on Aging to renew the center's grant for another five years.

For two years in a row, four of the five research studies at IU School of Medicine that received the largest funding from the National Institutes of Health were for Alzheimer's disease research and focused on:

• "Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study," led by Dr. Liana Apostolova.
• "Model Organism Development and Evaluation for Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease," led by Bruce Lamb.
• "Target Enablement to Accelerate Therapy Development for Alzheimer's Disease," led by Alan Palkowitz.
• "National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia," led by Tatiana Foroud.

IU's leadership in research on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias continues to grow. For fiscal year 2021, the IU School of Medicine has so far received $68 million in grant funding from the National Institute on Aging for this work.

Research on Alzheimer's disease is also being conducted by an interdisciplinary team of faculty from the School of Nursing at IUPUI, the School of Public Health-Bloomington and the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. A $1.7 million grant from the NIH will support their efforts to continue promotion of brain health awareness in African American people age 45 and older.

IU is truly at the forefront in research that prevents, detects and treats diseases like Alzheimer's -- work that will enhance and extend lives.

Pamela Whitten

President
Indiana University