The mission of the University of Pennsylvania Alzheimer's Disease Center Core (ADCC) is to increase understanding of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in the community served by the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center (UPMC), foster interactions between this ADCC and ongoing research programs on AD at the University of Pennsylvania, stimulate the development of new research initiatives on AD through Pilot grants and increase the quality and quantity of AD research overall at the University of Pennsylvania. Substantial progress has been made in the previous funding period towards the accomplishment of these goals, and this will continue to be the mission of this ADCC in the renewal period. Since the mechanisms leading to behavioral abnormalities and the selective degeneration of the nervous system in AD remain poorly understood while the etiology of AD is polygenic, ADCCs provide a unique and cost-efficient resource for research that will elucidate the pathobiology of this disorder and lead to strategies for the early diagnosis, prevention and/or amelioration of AD. To accomplish the mission of the Alzheimer Centers, the Penn ADCC continues to support: 1) An Administrative Core to oversee and direct the activities of the ADCC; 2) A Clinical Core to coordinate the recruitment and continued assessment of AD and control subjects including women and minorities; 3) A Latino Satellite Clinic to recruit urban Latinos into AD and control cohorts for study in this ADCC; 4) A Neuropathology Core to obtain fluids and tissues from ADCC subjects for diagnostic studies and research; 5) An Education and Information Transfer Core to foster interest in and awareness of AD and the activities of the Penn ADCC, as well as to develop outreach initiatives to urban African-Americans in the West Philadelphia Community served by the UPMC; 6) A Pilot grant program that stimulates novel lines of AD research which is likely to develop into independently funded research projects. In sum, the Penn ADCC will continue to foster efforts to increase understanding of the clinical and molecular basis of AD, as well as the broad effects of this late-life dementia on our society.
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