# Core B: Clinical Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $545,084

## Abstract

Clinical Core (Core B) – Project Summary 
 The Wake ADCC will focus on the hypothesis that metabolic and vascular risk factors promote the 
transition from normal aging to MCI, and then to AD or other forms of pathological brain aging such as vascular 
cognitive impairment (VCI). The Wake ADCC Clinical Core will provide resources that are pivotal to this focus, 
by enrolling, intensively characterizing, and following adults who are at high risk of AD due to the presence of 
prediabetes, a prevalent condition associated with metabolic and vascular pathology, that increases the risk of 
AD and other dementias. We will enroll and follow 4 groups of participants: 1) cognitively normal 
normoglycemic adults; 2) cognitively normal adults with prediabetes; 3) normoglycemic adults with MCI; and 4) 
adults with MCI and prediabetes. We will also enroll and characterize adults with AD to participate in ongoing 
trials, but given our focus on early transition, will not carry out intensive longitudinal phenotyping in this group. 
Participants will have careful longitudinal characterization, augmenting the Uniform Dataset with supplemental 
cognitive measures; collection and archiving of CSF, DNA, and blood; and MRI using specialized sequences to 
image vascular endpoints. All participants will also be approached for brain donation. A subset will receive 
amyloid imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) and a novel FDG-Acetoacetate dual tracer PET scan to 
assess alternate fuel utilization in the brain. The Core will generate a powerful data and specimen repository 
that will be available to Wake investigators as well as NACC, NCRAD, and AD investigators world-wide to 
conduct innovative translational research on AD pathogenesis and prevention. Aim 1: To enroll and intensively 
characterize a cohort of cognitively normal normoglycemic or prediabetic adults, and normoglycemic or 
prediabetic adults with MCI, as well as participants with AD dementia who will be available for novel 
interventions, biomarker discovery, and genetic/epigenetic analyses, thereby exponentially expanding the 
scope of clinical-translational research at Wake Forest. 2: To provide resources that will determine whether 
Clinical Core participants with prediabetes show greater change over time on measures of cognition and AD 
pathology, and to explore relationships among novel AD and metabolic biomarkers and symptoms of AD, VCI, 
and other disorders. 3: To maximize the participation of African American adults and adults from diverse racial 
and ethnic backgrounds in all Center cohorts. 4: To coordinate systematic collection and archiving of brain, 
biospecimen, genetic, cognitive, metabolic, and imaging data that will facilitate data and specimen sharing with 
NACC, NCRAD, AD Centers and other collaborators. 5: To develop and collect innovative indices of metabolic 
and vascular risk that will be used to assess Core participants and whose protocols will be made available to 
investigators ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9981584
- **Project number:** 5P30AG049638-05
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Jeff Douglas Williamson
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $545,084
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9981584

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9981584, Core B: Clinical Core (5P30AG049638-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9981584. Licensed CC0.

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