Grant Funds Study on Racial Differences in Alzheimer’s Markers

Colorful PET scan of two brains showing average tau accumulation in cognitively normal people (left) and in those with mild Alzheimer's symptoms.

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis researchers will use a new $14.6 million grant to investigate whether early markers of Alzheimer’s disease in white populations also apply to African Americans, who are underrepresented in Alzheimer’s research. The effort will include over 1,000 African American participants and will produce adequate statistical power required to assess biologically significant Alzheimer’s disease markers differences that might exist between the two populations.

Clinical and biomarker studies will be a collaborative effort across the School of Medicine as well as other institutions. Tammie Benzinger, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology, will lead the central reprocessing of the samples and scans across the studies alongside Anne Fagan, PhD, professor of neurology.

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