# Core D:  Neuropathology

> **NIH NIH P30** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $393,750

## Abstract

Core D: Neuropathology Project Summary
Alzheimer disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in the world, but many other diseases of the brain can
also cause cognitive decline. Unfortunately, these diseases have overlapping clinical signs and symptoms, and
they often coexist in older individuals with dementia. These circumstances greatly complicate our overarching
mission “to prevent and treat Alzheimer disease and related dementias by 2025” (the primary objective of the
National Plan to Address Alzheimer Disease [NAPA]). To accomplish this mission, we must first: (1) improve
our ability to distinguish and diagnose specific individual brain diseases in living participants; and (2) understand
the pathophysiological mechanisms through which these diseases develop and lead to dementia.
In this effort, studies of postmortem brain tissue are indispensable. Comprehensive brain examination can
establish not only whether a person had AD and how advanced that AD pathology had become, but can also
detect and measure the severity of other neurodegenerative diseases that can mimic and/or coincide with AD.
Just as important, scientific studies of postmortem brain specimens can facilitate the development and testing
of new brain scans (neuroimaging biomarker compounds) in ways that are not possible in living participants,
and can reveal new secrets about the pathophysiology of AD and related dementias.
The mission of the Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC) Neuropathology Core (NPC) is to collect,
process, analyze, store, and distribute autopsy brain tissue from study participants to support the Specific Aims
of the ADRC and other scientists around the world, as we all strive to prevent and treat AD and related
dementias. Towards this end, the NPC examines brains for signs of pathology (including the amounts and
distributions of neuronal loss, gliosis, vascular disease sequela, and deposits of abnormal disease-associated
proteins [Aβ, hyperphosphorylated tau, alpha-synuclein, and pTDP-43]). These detailed studies enable us to
communicate appropriate diagnoses to the families of participant brain donors, and to supply appropriate data
and tissues to scientific collaborators. These collaborations allow the correlation of clinical, neuroimaging,
biochemical, and molecular features to neuropathologic features of AD and related dementias.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10164698
- **Project number:** 5P30AG066444-02
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD Justin PERRIN
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $393,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-15 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10164698

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10164698, Core D:  Neuropathology (5P30AG066444-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10164698. Licensed CC0.

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