Disease Mechanisms: Epigenetics programs (Milestone 2.C)
Achieved
Timeline Start - End
2016 - 2021Research Implementation Area
Research on Disease MechanismsCreate research programs on epigenetics to understand how genetic and environmental factors interact across the lifespan to influence brain aging and risk for disease and to identify potential targets for treatment and prevention.
Success Criteria
- Launch at least 6 new projects focused on exploring epigenetic mechanisms that underlie the heterogeneity of AD and AD-related dementias and the causal role of the exposome in brain aging and AD/ADRD.
Summary of Key Accomplishments
NIA supports a growing portfolio of grants exploring how epigenetic factors/mechanisms influence AD risk and resilience through targeted funding initiatives as well as investigator-initiated research. NIA’s targeted initiative, the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project Functional Genomics Consortium, led to the funding of six large cross-disciplinary projects to systematically discover and characterize functional genomic and epigenomic elements and elucidate their roles and mechanisms of action underpinning the heterogeneity of AD/ADRD. The work supported through this consortium will illuminate new therapeutic opportunities.
The key accomplishments summary is current as of March 2022.
Accomplishments/Implementation Activities
Funding Initiatives
- PAR-14-070: Limited Competition: Renewal of, and Revisions to, the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium (U01)
- PAR-15-357: Understanding Alzheimer's Disease in the Context of the Aging Brain (R01)
- PAR-15-358: Capturing Complexity in the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Involved in the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease (R01)
- PAR-16-406: Limited Competition: Additional Sequencing for the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (U01)
- PAR-17-214: Limited Competition: Analysis of Data from NIA's Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project Follow-Up Study (U01)
- RFA-AG-17-053: Human Cell Biology of Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Variants (R01)
- PAR-18-596: Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01)
- NOT-AG-18-001 (#4): Genetic Underpinnings of Endosomal Trafficking as a Pathological Hub in AD/ADRD
- PAR-18-497: Sleep disorders and circadian clock disruption in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias of aging (R01) – 1 funded grant
- PAR-19-070: Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)-1 funded grant
- NOT-AG-18-051: Understanding Alzheimer's Disease in the Context of the Aging Brain
- NOT-AG-18-052: Capturing Complexity in the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Involved in the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease
- NOT-AG-19-007: Capturing Complexity in the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Involved in the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease
- NOT-AG-19-033: Selective Cell and Network Vulnerability in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease
- NOT-AG-21-052: Human Cell Biology of Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Variants
- NOT-AG-21-041: Capturing Complexity in the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms Involved in the Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease
- RFA-AG-22-021: Elucidating the Roles of Transposable Elements in AD/ADRD and Aging
Research Programs and Resources
- Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP)
- Neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative effects of environmental determinants: altering neural cellular populations impacting homeostatic functions and inflammatory response
- Determining how the epigenome serves as the interface between exercise and facilitated memory formation in the adult and aging female and male brain
- Trauma Exposure and Cognitive Impairment: Understanding Polygenic Liability and the Causative and Moderating Effects of Exposure, PTSD, and Psychiatric Comorbidity in WTC Responders