URC Receives $9 million for New Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center

The U.S. National Institutes of Health awarded $9 million in funds over the next 5 years to a new statewide center to enhance the understanding and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADCC) launched on Aug. 15, 2016, and will support researchers and clinicians from the University Research Corridor (URC), which is comprised of Michigan’s leading research universities – Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.

More than 5 million Americans, 65 and older, have Alzheimer’s disease, and another several million have other forms of dementia including frontotemporal dementia, Lewy Body dementia and vascular dementia. The ADCC will support a wide range of studies on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias while also educating scientists, health care professionals, and the public, on the causes and treatment of dementias.

“We’ll emphasize studies of the many non-amyloid factors contributing to disease because beta-amyloid, though unquestionably important in Alzheimer’s, is already getting considerable attention,” said Henry Paulson, M.D., Ph.D., U-M neurologist and director of the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center. “The goal of all this innovative research across the three universities is to understand disease processes and develop better treatments for the various dementias.”

The new Michigan ADCC will be one of nearly 30 NIH-funded Alzheimer’s disease centers across the nation, and the only one that links three major research universities. This multi-institutional approach will extend the reach of the ADCC across the entire state to help citizens of Michigan wherever they may live.

The ADCC additionally will foster career development of junior investigators, to prepare the next generation of experts in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The center seeks to provide training opportunities across many areas of research and at all levels of expertise, from high school students to junior faculty. ADCC investigators at all three universities will also come together annually for a research symposium to facilitate collaboration and learn about each other’s latest discoveries.

To learn more about the Michigan ADCC, visit: http://alzheimers.med.umich.edu/