# Imaging and Biomarker Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2022 · $231,652

## Abstract

Abstract
The Imaging and Biomarker (IB) Core will characterize participants in the Clinical Core through neuroimaging
and fluid biomarker analysis, in conformity with prevailing standards. A further focus is to rigorously describe
topographic phenotypes of the participants and to link this information to cognitive, fluid biomarker, genetic,
and neuropathologic data generated by the Center. The Core will also provide an information architecture and
consulting expertise to represent the imaging data to ADRC-affiliated studies and investigators.
 Many UW ADRC-affiliated studies require human subjects who are well-characterized with imaging and
fluid biomarkers. MRI imaging will be obtained on all normal cognition, MCI, and mild AD participants in the
Clinical and Native Research and Resource (NRRC) Cores. We will characterize our Clinical Core cohort with
A|T|N classification, primarily with CSF biomarkers (A, T) and MRI (N) imaging. The IB Core will coordinate
PET scans in ADRC affiliate projects or co-enroll affiliate subjects in the Clinical Core to ensure Clinical Core
subjects have PET scanning performed. We provide expertise in planning and analyzing PET molecular
imaging studies.
 Affiliated studies are investigating specific candidate mechanisms of AD, as well as whether, and why,
different pathological mechanisms inherent in AD have differing patterns of impact over the cerebral cortex. For
such studies, the brain space is a point of integration of the other biomarkers of AD. We have organized the IB
Core and its interactions with the Clinical and Neuropathology Cores such that topographical heterogeneity,
determined from imaging data, is incorporated as a phenotypic characteristic, along with cognitive domain, fluid
biomarker, and genetic data. We will measure cortical degeneration, as well as cortical sparing, across a set
of brain regions that represent the range and variability of involvement in AD. Another important aspect of
cognitive variability is the relationship of the degree of cognitive impairment that results from a given degree of
neurodegeneration (cognitive resilience). Thus we will also extract measures of cognitive resilience from
cognitive and anatomic data, as another phenotypic dimension. We will provide consulting expertise in
informatics/machine learning, image analysis and statistics for the description and analysis of these data.
 We have also structured the Core to support the same multidisciplinary phenotyping in decedents from
the Clinical cohort who come to autopsy. We will perform ex vivo MRI in all, and process structural measures
as in the in vivo studies. We will sample tissue from the same regions that we target with imaging in living
participants. We will calculate analogous resilience measures. Ex vivo MRI will also enable targeted sampling
of MRI-apparent abnormalities at autopsy and mapping neuropathologic data into standard anatomical space.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10433872
- **Project number:** 5P30AG066509-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas J. Grabowski
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $231,652
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10433872

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10433872, Imaging and Biomarker Core (5P30AG066509-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10433872. Licensed CC0.

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