Group items tagged

This funding opportunity announcement invites comprehensive, cross-disciplinary studies aimed at building predictive molecular models of cognitive resilience based on high-dimensional molecular data collected in individuals who remain free of dementia despite being at high risk for Alzheimer's disease. 

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications that focus on clarifying the relationship between delirium and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Specifically sought is research focusing on understanding why persons with ADRD are at increased risk to develop delirium, often with a worse prognosis compared to those without antecedent ADRD, and why patients who experience delirium are at higher risk to develop subsequent short- and/or long-term mild cognitive impairment or ADRD, often with an accelerated rate of cognitive decline compared to those without preceding delirium. Relevant research projects may focus on, but are not limited to, those that A) provide insight into possible common, sequential, causative, contributory and/or synergistic pathways underlying both ADRD and delirium, B) elucidate mechanisms that lead to the development of delirium against the background of aging and/or neurodegeneration, with particular emphasis on use of appropriate animal models, C) identify risk factors for the onset and/or progression of delirium in those with ADRD and vice versa, D) diagnose and assess one condition in the setting of the other, E) identify putative phenotypes of patients with co-existing ADRD and delirium, or F) test pharmacologic and/or non-pharmacologic strategies to prevent, treat, or reduce the impact of delirium in patients with ADRD and vice versa. Research supported by this FOA is intended to provide mechanistic insight to improve risk assessment, diagnosis, phenotyping, prevention, and management approaches for both delirium and ADRD.

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation has issued a Request for Proposals for its Preclinical Drug Discovery program. Through the program, grants of up to $600,000 over two years will be awarded to promising preclinical drug discovery programs relevant to Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, and cognitive aging. Preclinical research funding priorities include high throughput screening, medicinal chemistry hit-to-lead development and optimization, in vitro and in vivo efficacy studies, ADME, toxicology, pharma-cokinetics and pharma-co-dynamics, and in vivo proof-of-concept with lead compounds and biologics. Program areas of particular interest include new chemical compounds for Alzheimer's disease, preclinical proof-of-concept, and re-purposing. With regards to potential drug targets, ADDF is interested in novel targets that include but are not limited to neuro-inflammation, protein degradation/autophagy, growth factor signaling, synaptic function/morphology, calcium regulation, energy utilization/mitochondria function, insulin sensitivity, epigenetics, ApoE function and cholesterol metabolism, vascular injury and the blood-brain barrier interface, cognitive enhancers, myelin changes, ischemia and oxidative stress, and tau-related toxicities. To be eligible, applicants must be academic investigators seeking to create and support innovative translational programs in academic medical centers and universities; biotechnology companies with programs dedicated to Alzheimer's disease translational development; and new biotechnology company spinouts or existing biotechnology companies that demonstrate a clear need for nonprofit funding. Funding is provided through program-related investments (PRIs) that require a return on investment based on scientific and/or business milestones.

To study in vivo synaptic structure and function in Alzheimer's and related dementia; and to advance development of methods to study synapses in animal models and humans.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports the development of PET radioligands that identify proteinopathies or pathological processes associated with the human biology of Alzheimer's disease related dementias (ADRDs). Activities supported under this FOA include, but are not limited to the in vitro screening of existing ligands against human ADRD brain tissue, medicinal chemistry support for development of new compounds and improvement of existing ligand specificity and selectivity, initial screening of ligands in appropriate animal models, and radioligand formulation and first-in-human testing. The Center without Walls should encompass research that will move promising ligands through in vitro and in vivo optimization to first-in-human studies. Applications must include an administrative core, a medicinal chemistry core, a clinical core, a scientific governance structure, and a minimum of two research projects with milestone plans that address workflows for screening of existing and newly derived ligands against human ADRD tissue and appropriate animal models. Synergy must be evident among Center research projects and cores, such that successful completion of the aims could not be accomplished without the Center structure.

To that end, grants of up to $5 million will be awarded in support of research on innovative pharmacologic interventions for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, including clinical trials, regulatory studies for novel drugs (small molecules and biologics, including antibodies, peptides, gene therapies), repurposed drugs (existing drugs that are approved for other diseases and conditions), repositioned drugs (existing drugs that have entered clinical trials for other indications and have not yet been approved), and natural products.