# Multicultural Community Dementia Screening

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $253,874

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Community detection of Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias
(ADRD) may be limited due to the lack of screening tests characterizing the earliest signs of impairment and
correspondence to biomarkers as defined by the amyloid-tau-neuronal injury/neurodegeneration (ATN)
framework. Accumulating evidence suggests that neuronal injury and neurodegeneration begins decades before
clinically evident cognitive decline. Thus, by the time ADRD is clinically diagnosed, irreversible neuronal damage
has already occurred. This has the potential of lessening the therapeutic benefits of disease modifying
medications. In R01AG071514, we are examining novel ways to overcome major challenges to improve the
detection of MCI and early AD by emphasizing deep phenotyping to enhance the research value of data and
biospecimens contributed by individual participants and cross validate screening efforts linking prevalence data
to brain biomarkers, leveraging the ATN research framework to anchor this work. However most current ATN
biomarkers are expansive, invasive and not readily accessible for clinical care. To address this critical need, we
aim to develop non-invasive, easily acquired biomarkers conducive for the early detection of ADRD. The retina
and brain share similar anatomic and physiologic features, but, unlike the brain, the retina is easily accessible
for imaging. The retina and brain share similar anatomic and physiologic features, but, unlike the brain, the
retina is easily accessible for imaging. Recent studies showed that amyloid deposition occurs not only in the brain
but also in the retina, greater in patients with AD compared to normal healthy controls. For this administrative
supplement, we teamed with Drs. Jianhua Wang and Hong Jiang, experts in ophthalmic imaging of the Advanced
Ophthalmic Imaging lab at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO)
will be used along with OCT/OCTA to image the retina before and after oral curcumin intake. This proposed
work takes advantage of well-characterized and deeply phenotyped cohort from our funded R01 AG071514. We
propose 3 SPECIFIC AIMS: (1) Develop and validate retinal amyloid imaging; (2) Determine relationship of
retinal amyloid imaging to brain amyloid imaging; and (3) test whether baseline retinal amyloid imaging can
predict transition. At the conclusion of our study, we will collect sufficient preliminary data for future R01
proposal and the cost-effective and noninvasive method for in vivo imaging of amyloid deposition in the retina
will be fully developed to be used for screening and clinical trials.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10578575
- **Project number:** 3R01AG071514-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** James E Galvin
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $253,874
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-05-01 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10578575

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10578575, Multicultural Community Dementia Screening (3R01AG071514-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-03 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10578575. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*