The candidate is a geriatric neurologist with postdoctoral training in dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) who will use the K23 to develop expertise in clinical research methodology, advanced neuroimaging techniques, and metabolism. The proposal combines the candidate's experience in the clinical evaluation of dementia, neuroimaging research on structural brain changes, and a new focus on metabolism. The academic environment will support the training and research experience through the Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, the Energy Balance Laboratory, the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Center, and an NIH-sponsored K30 curriculum training program. Career Development: The candidate will obtain a Master's in Clinical Research, training in the assessment of metabolism and body composition, and training and formal coursework in advanced neuroimaging techniques. Research Program: Research into caloric restriction and insulin metabolism have led to seminal advances in our understanding of aging processes and have implicated energy metabolism as an underlying etiology for age-related disease such as AD. The overall goal of the research program is examine the hypothesis that peripheral energy metabolism influences brain aging. Using well-established clinical and neuroimaging methods from the candidate's postdoctoral training program, standard methods to clinically characterize and neuroimage older adults with and without memory problems will be developed, piloted, and implemented (aim 1). The relationship of brain structure with insulin-mediated glucose disposal (aim 2) and resting metabolic rate (aim 3) will be cross-sectionally examined in a cohort of nondemented (n = 32) and early-stage AD participants (n = 32). Improved understanding of the physiologic mediators of structural brain changes may lead to new therapeutic targets for promoting brain health arid preventing age-related brain disease. K23 support will allow the candidate to build a research and educational foundation to develop and launch an independent patient-oriented career using neuroimaging to study the pathophysiology of age-related structural brain changes and brain disease such as AD.
| Watts, Amber; Ferdous, Farhana; Moore, Keith Diaz et al. (2015) Neighborhood Integration and Connectivity Predict Cognitive Performance and Decline. Gerontol Geriatr Med 1: |
| Gras, Laura Z; Kanaan, Saddam F; McDowd, Joan M et al. (2015) Balance and gait of adults with very mild Alzheimer disease. J Geriatr Phys Ther 38:1-7 |
| Watts, Amber; Honea, Robyn A; Billinger, Sandra A et al. (2015) A combined measure of vascular risk for white matter lesions. J Alzheimers Dis 45:187-93 |
| Morris, J K; Vidoni, E D; Perea, R D et al. (2014) Insulin resistance and gray matter volume in neurodegenerative disease. Neuroscience 270:139-47 |
| Billinger, Sandra A; Vidoni, Eric D; Greer, Colby S et al. (2014) Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is well tolerated in people with Alzheimer-related cognitive impairment. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 95:1714-8 |
| Watts, Amber S; Loskutova, Natalia; Burns, Jeffrey M et al. (2013) Metabolic syndrome and cognitive decline in early Alzheimer's disease and healthy older adults. J Alzheimers Dis 35:253-65 |
| Royall, Donald R; Palmer, Raymond F; Vidoni, Eric D et al. (2013) The default mode network may be the key substrate of depressive symptom-related cognitive changes. J Alzheimers Dis 34:547-59 |
| Vidoni, Eric D; Thomas, George P; Honea, Robyn A et al. (2012) Evidence of altered corticomotor system connectivity in early-stage Alzheimer's disease. J Neurol Phys Ther 36:8-16 |
| Burns, Jeffrey M; Honea, Robyn A; Vidoni, Eric D et al. (2012) Insulin is differentially related to cognitive decline and atrophy in Alzheimer's disease and aging. Biochim Biophys Acta 1822:333-9 |
| Vidoni, Eric D; Honea, Robyn A; Billinger, Sandra A et al. (2012) Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with atrophy in Alzheimer's and aging over 2 years. Neurobiol Aging 33:1624-32 |
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