# Pre-Clinical Testing Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2020 · $1,430,214

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY PRECLINICAL TESTING CORE (PTC) 
The Preclinical Testing Core (PTC) of the IU/JAX Alzheimer’s Disease Precision Models Center will establish 
and validate a preclinical testing screening strategy pipeline with predetermined go/no-go decision points using 
pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamic biomarkers and functional assessments in biologically and pathologically 
relevant AD mouse models that allow standardized and unbiased assessments of potential therapeutic agents. 
The Core is led by experts in preclinical imaging, neuropharmacology, and animal model characterization at 
IU’s Center for Neuroimaging and JAX’s Mouse Neurobehavioral Phenotyping, In Vivo Imaging, and 
Physiology Core facilities, and supported by IU’s Clinical Pharmacology Analytical Core. The pipeline’s primary 
and secondary screens focus on generating pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) biomarker 
assessments in two new generation AD mouse models with construct validity. Only test compounds that 
demonstrate target engagement in the biomarker screens will move to tertiary screening for in vivo symptom 
modifying effects and determination of the novel compound’s therapeutic window. The specific aims of the 
PTC are (1) the establishment of a standardized testing pipeline, the development of the assay protocols and 
methods, the creation of the data repository and back-translating clinical compound failures; (2) validating the 
pipeline with two compounds currently in clinical trials in two biologically and pathologically relevant animal 
models; (3) the evaluation of novel test compounds through the pipeline which allows investigators in the 
greater AD research community with unprecedented access to a validated pipeline, standardized testing 
protocols, and resources to screen compounds of interest.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10006152
- **Project number:** 5U54AG054345-05
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Paul Richard Territo
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,430,214
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-30 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10006152

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10006152, Pre-Clinical Testing Core (5U54AG054345-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10006152. Licensed CC0.

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