. The Emory Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) provides Georgia and the region with comprehensive clinical, research, and educational programs. This application seeks support to add a Minority Engagement Core (MEC) which will further our success in building an environment that encourages and supports innovative projects with a general theme of discovery and translation of new targets and mechanisms to enable early identification, early interventions, and ultimately prevention of AD. Given the well documented disparities in clinical research participation and burden of disease for AD in the African American community, the Emory ADRC focuses special effort to understand and address inter-individual differences in AD, ranging from ethno-racial factors to personal differences in genetic and protein variation. We benefit from generous institutional support from Emory, one of the nation's fastest growing research academic medical centers, the generous Atlanta community, and a highly collaborative team from more than 20 departments and centers. Five Cores (Administrative, Clinical, Data Management and Statistics, Neuropathology, and Outreach Recruitment and Education), coordinate activities to effectively recruit, evaluate, and engage a diverse cohort of volunteers who actively participate in a wide variety of research studies that aim to better define the trajectory from normal cognitive aging to symptomatic stages of disease. Data from the Cores are captured and stored for distribution to local researchers and for national collaborations. Our biospecimen banks include well-characterized neuropathological case materials, blood and CSF, and DNA. These valuable resources are distributed widely for a variety of approved studies of genetic, molecular, pharmacological, and pathological investigations. The ADRC educational programs reach a broad audience of students, health care professionals, and the public. Three cutting edge research projects are closely integrated with ADRC Cores: Project 1, ?AD Biomarkers and Endothelial Dysfunction in Caucasians and African Americans?; Project 2, ?A Proteogenomic Approach to Understanding AD GWAS Results?; and Project 3, ?Defining the Properties of Pathogenic A strains in Alzheimer's Disease?.
Significance. The proposed Minority Enhancement Core (MEC) acknowledges the need to recruit African American individuals into research on Alzheimer's disease (AD) and recognizes that long- standing barriers to research participation by this community require researchers to demonstrate genuine commitment to the well-being of this community. The MEC will be reciprocally engaged with the AA community, assisting its institutions to build capacity to foster the well-being of their constituents and creating bridges between the community and ADRC researchers to promote successful recruitment into research.
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