# Core C: Neuroimaging Core

> **NIH NIH P01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $314,233

## Abstract

Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is a progressive disorder characterized by pathology and
neurodegeneration in a predominantly frontal and temporal anatomic distribution. However, there is extensive
heterogeneity of disease distribution across individuals with FTD, including several clinical phenotypes, several
underlying pathological sources of disease, and distinct sources of genetic contributions. Multimodal
neuroimaging, including structural MRI (sMRI) and diffusion MRI (dMRI), provides an important tool to
characterize the heterogeneous and distributed loci of FTD in individuals in order to objectively improve the
diagnostic discrimination between FTLD-tau and FTLD-TDP, relate these pathologies to phenotypes, and
inform the biological mechanisms of these complex network disorders. Functional perfusion MRI (pMRI) and
resting state BOLD fMRI (rsfMRI) approaches enhance sMRI and dMRI by providing additional unique insights
into the origin, rate, and pattern of early disease and longitudinal progression. 7T MRI provides a unique
opportunity to better understand the microstructural mechanisms that distinguish FTLD-TDP from FTLD-Tau.
Thus, the overall goal of Imaging Core C is to provide the necessary infrastructure to support state-of-the-art
3T and 7T MRI acquisition and network analyses of neuroimaging data in Projects I-V of this research
program. This Core will also be closely integrated with Cores B-E to facilitate our interdisciplinary and
convergent in vivo and ex vivo approach to improving our understanding of FTD as a network disorder. In
particular, we will generate graph “nodes” reflecting MRI-derived structural properties of FTD brains and graph
“edges” reflecting structural and/or functional connectivity to facilitate the network neuroscience approach of
each individual project. To accomplish this goal we propose 3 Specific Aims: (1) Collect state-of-the-art in vivo
3T MRI multimodal neuroimaging data in FTD patients including sMRI, dMRI, pMRI, and rsfMRI; (2) Provide a
cross-sectional and longitudinal image processing pipeline for standard operating procedure (SOP)
neuroimaging measurements; and (3) Develop novel 7 Tesla (7T) acquisition strategies to yield ultra-high-
resolution (<0.3mm3) data and test biologically-motivated hypotheses.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9937384
- **Project number:** 1P01AG066597-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Corey T McMillan
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $314,233
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9937384

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9937384, Core C: Neuroimaging Core (1P01AG066597-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9937384. Licensed CC0.

---

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