UCI MIND has received an $18 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging to lead a new multi-center study focused on limbic predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE), a degenerative brain disease. The project will establish the first national trial-ready patient group for LATE, which is present in up to 40 percent of older adults’ brains but remains underrecognized.
According to S. Ahmad Sajjadi, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology at UC Irvine School of Medicine and lead investigator, “LATE mimics Alzheimer’s disease in its symptoms yet stems from a distinct pathology. In the absence of reliable biomarkers, distinguishing the two conditions during life remains challenging. This study will advance efforts to develop accurate diagnostic tools for LATE and lay the foundation for recruiting participants into future clinical trials targeting this disease.”
Participants aged 85 and older who meet certain criteria will be recruited from five federally funded Alzheimer’s disease research centers, including UCI MIND. They will undergo clinical assessments, annual MRI scans, blood draws, and bi-annual glucose PET scans to validate or discover new biomarkers for LATE. Ecological momentary assessments—remote digital evaluations conducted at home—will also be used to provide realistic cognitive testing.
Recruitment campaigns at each site will seek eligible participants from existing cohorts or through new outreach efforts.
Joshua Grill, Ph.D., director of UCI MIND, commented on securing the funding amid delays and possible reductions in the National Institutes of Health budget: “Securing this major grant during these challenging times is a testament to the importance of the proposed study and to the outstanding track record of our team at UC Irvine and our collaborators.”
The leadership team also includes Ali Ezzatti, M.D., associate professor specializing in informatics and artificial intelligence; and Crystal Glover, Ph.D., associate professor with expertise in mixed methods and recruitment science.
This award follows a recent $21 million renewal grant from the National Institute on Aging that supports UCI MIND’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center over five years. The center has been engaged in dementia research and community engagement for more than four decades.
UCI MIND brings together over 60 faculty members from more than 20 departments across campus—including neuroscience, psychiatry, geriatrics, statistics, public health—and was first nationally to establish cores for induced pluripotent stem cells as well as studies involving unique populations such as people with Down syndrome.
Community engagement is central to UCI MIND’s work. Each year thousands of Orange County residents participate in free events or access educational resources provided by the institute. UCI MIND also plays a key role in NIH-funded Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium activities and leads training initiatives like IMPACT-AD alongside USC.
More than 6,000 Orange County residents have joined UC Irvine’s Consent-to-Contact Registry—a voluntary database connecting individuals with clinical studies—which has generated over 10,000 referrals so far.
“Clinically focused studies are a cornerstone of our mission,” Grill said, “because they bring our research directly into the community – through clinical trials, educational programs and partnerships that empower people to make informed decisions about their brain health.”
The Brilliant Future campaign launched publicly in October 2019 aims to raise awareness and support for UC Irvine by engaging alumni and seeking $2 billion in philanthropic investment. UCI MIND is part of this effort (https://brilliantfuture.uci.edu/uci-mind).
UC Irvine was founded in 1965 and is part of the Association of American Universities. It ranks among America’s top public universities according to U.S. News & World Report (www.uci.edu). The university enrolls over 36,000 students across 224 degree programs.
