# Biomarkers of Inflammation, Neurodegeneration and Age-Associated Cognitive Impairment

> **NIH NIH K01** · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $196,485

## Abstract

Project Summary
 With a rapidly increasing population of aging Americans, cognitive impairment associated with
normative aging, or neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's Disease and other related dementias
(ADOD), will place increasing burden on our public health infrastructure. Unfortunately, few effective
screening tools or therapeutic strategies exist, and many patients are refractory to treatment. Recent studies
suggest that altered neuroinflammatory signaling may play an important early role in normative aging, and
in ADOD, but the mechanisms by which the complex interaction of pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways
change over the lifespan, or modulate cognition, are unclear. For this reason, studies using animal models
that closely recapitulate normative human aging, but on a shorter timescale, are desperately needed to test
the overall hypothesis that rising levels neuroinflammation occurs prior to neurodegeneration and age-
related cognitive impairment, and represent a potential early marker. To address this need, the central goal
of my project will be to query the relationship between markers of neuroinflammation with brain morphology
and microstructure, and cognition, in naturally-occurring rhesus macaque model of age-related cognitive
impairment. I will use a combination of ultra-sensitive cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) protein biomarker assays,
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of activated astrocytes and microglia, high-resolution
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of brain morphology and microstructure, and cognitive assessment for
spatial working memory. The strength of these studies lies in their potential to characterize novel biomarkers
of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative pathways that are associated with memory impairment, and
to identify new potential biomarkers that can serve as screening tools and future therapeutic targets.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10505955
- **Project number:** 1K01AG078407-01
- **Recipient organization:** OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Alison Ruth Weiss
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $196,485
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10505955

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10505955, Biomarkers of Inflammation, Neurodegeneration and Age-Associated Cognitive Impairment (1K01AG078407-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10505955. Licensed CC0.

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