# Project 1: MindCrowd: Precision Aging Cognitive Assessment Through a Web-based Network

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2021 · $1,263,706

## Abstract

SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Project 1
MindCrowd: Precision Aging Cognitive Assessment Through a Web-based Network
The overarching goal of the Precision Aging Network (PAN) is to close the gap between cognitive
healthspan and human lifespan. We propose that this goal will be best achieved through the use of precision
medicine-based approaches to help address individualized susceptibilities to age-related cognitive decline
(ARCI) as well as to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRDs). A critical waypoint on the
path to this precision approach is the study of a large, diverse cohort of normally aging adults to help us better
characterize the multitude of factors – demographic, health, medical, lifestyle, and molecular – that may be
predictive of altered risk for ARCI, AD, and ADRD. To achieve this, the PAN has established four Projects that
will recruit and study such a cohort, thereby initiating these next steps toward an eventual “Precision Aging”
approach. Project 1 plays a critical role in this venture via the continued recruitment and expansion of a large,
diverse internet-based cohort. Additionally, Project 1 will empower the selective recruitment of specific
participants for in-depth face-to-face characterization by Project 2 as well as contribute to the novel biomarker
discoveries in Project 3, and the predictive model development approaches in Project 4.
Project 1 will expand our existing internet-based MindCrowd study as follows; (a) increase the enrollment of
understudied demographics including Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic Black participants, (b) enlarge the
web-based test battery to cover additional domains of cognitive functions, and (c) conduct on-going two-year
longitudinal assessments using the expanded test battery. The study site (located at www.mindcrowd.org), in
operation since January 2013, has already recruited over 213,000 individuals from across the country. The
cognitive tasks are available through the study site in both Spanish and English, and all future tasks –
developed in collaboration with the Cognitive Assessment and Neuroimaging (CAN) Core E – will be
developed as bi-lingual versions as well. We have successfully demonstrated an ability to collect additional
self-report survey data as well as blood biospecimens and molecular genetic data from these individuals, even
though few participants from this web-based cohort have been seen in-person. Together this demonstrates the
importance and feasibility of using the internet to achieve the goal of studying large and diverse samples to
power the development of a precision medicine clinical approach.
Acquiring the proposed large, diverse cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets will enable us to answer the
central research questions proposed by the PAN. Additionally, the data obtained by the PAN will be openly
available via regular releases during the granting period in order to be fully available to the national research
community studying cognitive aging, AD,...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10270195
- **Project number:** 1U19AG065169-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Matt Huentelman
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,263,706
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10270195

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10270195, Project 1: MindCrowd: Precision Aging Cognitive Assessment Through a Web-based Network (1U19AG065169-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10270195. Licensed CC0.

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