Research

• Validating diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease in diverse populations
• Discovering new tests and theories related to frontotemporal degeneration and Lewy body disease
• Understanding why some people respond to anti-amyloid therapy but others don’t
• Role of inflammation in the aging brain
• Benefits of life long learning and social engagement on brain health
• Vascular damage in the sclera (white of the eye) as a window into the brain
• Developing deep scientific understanding of long COVID through genes, proteins, and organoids (brain in a dish)

We are currently recruiting for the following studies.  Please contact the specific coordinator listed or our central research email at memory411@rutgers.edu

CSF, MRI, and PET biomarker of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease

• • The goal of the study is to better understand how inflammatory changes in the brain can be detected in the spinal fluid, MRI, and PET scan
  • We are looking for people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease
  • Contact: Memory411@rutgers.edu or Victor Sotelo

Beyond haploinsufficiency: Biomarkers in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) due to progranulin (GRN) mutations

• • The goal of the study is to determine if some people with mutated GRN genes create abnormal proteins in their spinal fluid and blood
  • We are looking for people from families with known GRN mutations or inherited forms of frontotemporal dementia/primary progressive aphasia
  • Contact: Memory411@rutgers.edu or Victor Sotelo

Brain fog in long COVID

• • The goal of this study is to describe inflammatory changes in the spinal fluid and blood of people who develop thinking and memory issues (“brain fog”) after recovering from COVID-19
  • We are looking for people who had mild to moderate COVID-19 (never intubated) who feel their memory and thinking is worse than before the infection
  • Contact: Memory411@rutgers.edu or Kristen Briney

Rutgers-Stanford Chinese Older Adult Study (COAST)

• • The goal of this study is to compare performance on Mandarin- and English cognitive tests among bilingual older adults, correlate performance on Mandarin testing with brain structure/function, and determine diagnostic thresholds for cognitive impairment among Mandarin speakers
  • Contact: Mei-ling Li or Guibin Su

Memory and Aging in South Asian Americans

• • There are two on-going studies focusing on the aging brain in older South Asians
    • South Asian Aging Brain (SAAB)
    • Studying Attitudes towards MRI Research in Older South Asians (SAMOSA)
  • Contact: memory411@rutgers.edu