Projects

Raji Brain Health Imaging Lab

Neuroinflammation and Alzheimer’s Disease Imaging Biomarkers in Midlife Obesity

Goal

The purpose of this project is to enhance our knowledge on the relationship between metabolically abnormal versus normal overweight or obesity with normal cognition and i) neurodegeneration as reflected by brain atrophy on MR imaging ii) neuroinflammation quantified by a new type of diffusion MR imaging called diffusion basis spectrum imaging and iii) AD pathology characterized by amyloid and tau PET imaging. The proposal will generate a new midlife cohort with classifications of metabolically abnormal overweight or obesity with amyloid, tau, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration imaging markers. Investigating this relationship will establish key understanding of how obesity can increase risk for Alzheimer’s disease and consequently inform future prevention strategies.

NIA: 1RF1AG072637-01

For more information, email Lakisha Lloyd.

Neuroinflammation with increased hindered diffusion (red voxels) in 55 overweight or obese persons compared to 40 lean persons overlaid on a white matter template image (green voxels).

Neuroinflammation and Alzheimer’s Disease Imaging Biomarkers in Late Life Obesity

Goal

The purpose of this project is to enhance our knowledge on the relationship between metabolically abnormal versus normal overweight or obesity with normal cognition and i) neurodegeneration as reflected by brain atrophy on MR imaging ii) neuroinflammation quantified by a new type of diffusion MR imaging called diffusion basis spectrum imaging and iii) AD pathology characterized by amyloid and tau PET imaging. The proposal will focus on late life participants to determine how obesity can modify Alzheimer’s risk in this cohort.

Previously funded under the WUSTL KL2 Program.

For more information, email Lakisha Lloyd.

*Source: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

Overview of all significant white matter tracts from the correlational tractography models.*

The Neighborhoods Study: Contextual Disadvantage and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD)

Goal

Dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) disproportionately impacts racial/ethnic minorities and the socioeconomically disadvantaged; groups more often exposed to neighborhood disadvantage. Prior research supports that neighborhood disadvantage is modifiable and interacts with biological processes to produce disease, yet little is known of its impact on ADRD.

This project leverages data within 22 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the U.S. to conduct the largest study of its kind on social determinants of health in the context of AD and to develop a novel collaborative infrastructure of contextual exposure for future social-biological phenotypic evaluation– a potential pathway to new therapeutics directly responsive to the NIA mission. As part of this multi-site study, Washington University in St. Louis will contribute post-mortem neuropathological data. items

To learn more, visit the Neighborhood Atlas website.

1R01AG070883-01

For more information, email Nancy Hantler.

Our People

The lab, led by Cyrus Raji, MD, is home to a talented group of researchers focused on the role of advanced neuroimaging in quantitatively tracking related brain changes.

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