MICHIGAN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH CENTER

The overall goal of the Michigan ADRC is to promote research and
education on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and to assure the
dissemination amongst scientists, physicians and caregivers in Michigan
of state-of-the art methods of evaluation and care by its educational
activities. The ADRC will provide core resources for both clinical and
fundamental scientific research. It will serve as a focus for
interactions between investigators examining various aspects of cognitive
dysfunction in aging. It will promote new research on dementia by funding
pilot projects by young investigators or established investigators with
new interests in cognitive disorders. Finally, it will educate health
professionals and caregivers throughout the state in the optimal
techniques for making a correct diagnosis and for managing and treating
persons with dementia. The Michigan ADRC will maintain four core facilities. The resources of
each of the cores will be accessible to scientists, health professionals,
caregivers and patients throughout the state. The Clinical Core will
consist of a clinical evaluation unit, a neuropsychology unit, and a data
management/biostatistics unit that will maintain, among other things, a
patient registry. The Neuropathology Core will serve to acquire
postmortem material, give a detailed neuropathologic assessment of each
case and provide documented postmortem material for investigators. The
Administrative Core will coordinate the functions of all the ADRc
research projects, the core facilities and the pilot projects. The
Research Training and Information Transfer Core will attempt to unify
methods of patient assessment and evaluation throughout the State of
Michigan in the secondary care centers. The initial scientific efforts of the ADRC will capitalize on the
scientific expertise already available at the University of Michigan in
studies of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease with dementia,
Huntington's disease and olivopontocerebellar atrophy using PET scanning,
detailed clinical evaluations and postmortem autoradiographic and
immunocytochemical studies. Four projects will focus on studies of the
relationship of dysfunction in the cholinergic, glutamaterigic and
dopaminergic systems to the cognitive and motor manifestations of the
primary dementias. Two clinical projects will related directly to two
basic science projects. The projects will also relate to research on
cognitive disorders funded through other sources. Although the research
projects have clear thematic relationship, research in more diverse areas
will be promoted by inclusion of five pilot projects form investigators
with various backgrounds and interests.