# Multimodal Disease Characterization Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $1,568,534

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY MULTIMODAL DISEASE CHARACTERIZATION CORE
The mission of the Multimodal Disease Characterization Core (MDCC) is to develop, optimize, and validate a
standardized multimodal testing pipeline to conduct the longitudinal assessment of functional, behavioral, and
clinical biomarkers capable of establishing healthy aging trajectories and identify divergent phenotypic changes
to corroborate the early-onset (EOAD) and late-onset (LOAD) marmoset models and establish best practices
and protocols. The MDCC will support the longitudinal comprehensive phenotypic characterization of the
marmoset models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) developed in the Research Projects. The MDCC will optimize
state-of-the-art protocols in neuroimaging, behavioral testing and cognitive assessment, and biomarkers
assays to perform longitudinal evaluations from birth through the emergence of disease onset. Neuroimaging
protocols will follow the ADNI-3 data acquisition and processing pipeline to obtain PET measures of amyloid,
pathological tau, and glucose metabolism, MRI measures of brain structure, and measures of task-free and
task-based functional MRI. The MDCC will also optimize ultrasound imaging protocols to assess arterial
stiffness and blood velocity. A behavioral testing pipeline will be developed, optimized, and validated, and will
be used to characterize aging phenotypes in marmosets with test-retest reliability. Finally, the MDCC will
perform measurements of fluid-based blood serum and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, and correlate them with
functional, behavioral, cognitive, and neuroimaging changes. Work in the MDCC work will lead to the
characterization and validation of marmoset models of AD, which will be invaluable in translational research to
elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms of AD and contribute to developing new therapeutics for AD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10899738
- **Project number:** 5U19AG074866-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Afonso C Silva
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,568,534
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-09-01 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10899738

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10899738, Multimodal Disease Characterization Core (5U19AG074866-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10899738. Licensed CC0.

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