Clinical Core The Clinical Core is aligned to support the overall specific aims of the OADRC's 5 overarching aims: 1) catalyze and sustain innovative research and discovery in AD and related dementias (ADRD) through an organizational infrastructure supporting a rich collaborative environment; 2) focus resources toward specific areas of emphasis: preclinical dementia and activity of disease emphasizing the oldest old; markers of meaningful change captured through studies of peripheral biomarkers, neuroimaging and continuous in-home behavioral monitoring; neuropathology of brain aging and late life dementia; novel testing of novel treatments; and improving education and knowledge about dementia; 3) provide materials to support the science through well-characterized research participants, biological specimens, brain tissue, data provision and analytics; 4) contribute to the national research commons relevant to ADRD; and 5) provide venues and mechanisms for education and training of new scientists, as well as educating and informing key stakeholders. The OADRC?s Clinical Core is organized facilitate the study of transitions from normative function to preclinical and early Alzheimer?s disease (AD), as well as providing the core infrastructure to facilitate developing needed treatments to prevent or moderate these transitions across the spectrum of disease severity. It is additionally the responsibility of this core to provide the infrastructure for a wide array of innovative and evolving research activities ranging from providing clinical study design expertise (in concert with the Data Management and Statistics Core) to support of treatment studies. In being continually responsive to its research community, the Clinical Core has developed focused special units to further enhance the provision of leading edge imaging, telemedicine and clinical trials conduct. Within this context the Clinic Core Specific Aims are to: 1. Identify, recruit, and longitudinally assess individuals necessary to provide a ready pool of well- characterized subjects for research emphasizing the presymptomatic to early AD spectrum. 2. Include the underserved African American older adult population in this research enterprise through an on- going coordinated Satellite Program, the African American Dementia Aging & Project (AADAPt). 3. Coordinate and assist in concert with its sister Cores, tissue, biospecimen (blood, CSF, DNA), neuroimaging, and digital biomarker data acquisition to facilitate research incorporating new and developing tools and methods in such rapidly progressing fields as neuroimaging, biomarkers, remote monitoring, telemedicine, and clinical trials. 4. Support investigator-initiated research pertaining to the dementias and foster research collaboration and data sharing both regionally and nationally.
