This is a proposal to establish an Alzheimer's disease (AD) Core Center (ADCC) at Northwestern University. According to the Chicago Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, more than 80,000 individuals in the Chicago area suffer from AD. Northwestern University has 3 clinical services with a special interest in AD and receives more than $5.3 million of extra- mural funding in this fiscal year for research relevant to AD. The proposed ADCC will increase the number of patients and caregivers who can access research-quality AD services and will provide the administrative structure and core facilities to upgrade and enrich existing and planned investigations in the clinical and biological aspects of AD. The Administrative Core will provide leadership and central coordination for existing AD-related clinical and research activities throughout Northwestern University. The Administrative Core will also solicit, evaluate and fund pilot projects related to AD in order to encourage the development of new ideas and attract new talent to this area of research. The Clinical Core will characterize and register patients with AD and non-demented controls. These subjects will have an opportunity to participate in one of the numerous clinical and drug trials currently underway. The Clinical Core will also provide a setting for """"""""therapeutic encounters"""""""" during which the patient and caregivers will receive recommendations for management and access to relevant services. The Neuropathology Core will enable timely autopsies of Clinical Core subjects who have agreed to enroll during life in a brain endowment program. The Neuropathology Core will establish a definitive microscopic diagnosis and will provide other investigators with neuropathologically characterized brain tissue, some of which will be in the form of fixed and frozen-sectioned whole-hemisphere sections which allow a wide range of sensitive immunocytochemical procedures. The Education and Information Transfer Core will coordinate intra- and extra-mural educational activities. A community outreach program has been established through the Francis Atlas Center which serves a predominantly African-American population in Chicago. The extra-mural activities of the Education and Information Transfer Core will include mini-sabbaticals and an interactive Internet-based bulletin board aimed predominantly at physicians who care for members of the Atlas Center. The proposed ADCC will have a Community Advisory Board which will allow it to serve the best interests of the Chicago community and to coordinate these activities with the local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
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