$22.4 million grant renewal enables KU Alzheimer’s center to expand search for cure

A $22.4 million grant renewal will enable the University of Kansas Medical Center to continue — and grow — its mission to discover causes and cures for Alzheimer’s disease.

KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center is a hub for Alzheimer’s research, clinical trials, healthcare, education and community outreach in Kansas. The center is nationally and internationally known, particularly for its research on how mitochondria and metabolism affect the brain, as well as innovations in Alzheimer’s care delivery.

The grant renewal, effective this month, will fuel the center’s work for the next five years.

“We bring hope to a lot of people,” said Russell Swerdlow, M.D., professor of neurology and director of KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) designates and funds Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers at 37 major medical and academic institutions across the United States. KU first received its designation in 2011. The new grant will see the center through its 20th year. It includes a $7.2 million increase over the previous five-year renewal.

“Our goal is to solve Alzheimer’s disease, both at the understanding level and to come up with more effective treatments,” Swerdlow said. “That’s a lofty goal, but one we think is possible.”

While seeking those solutions, Swerdlow said, the center will continue its efforts to make things better for people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as those who need a diagnosis.

With its funding for the next five years, KU plans to expand its work. That will including performing more in-depth mitochondrial studies, with a goal of developing better tools to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. One tool being explored is the mitochondrial functional index, a new blood-based biomarker measurement created by KU researchers.

Mitochondria are the miniscule organelles known as the powerhouses of cells — and they are Swerdlow’s area of expertise. He has long hypothesized that mitochondrial dysfunction is at the root of Alzheimer’s disease, a theory that only recently has become more widely accepted.

Another area of planned expansion will include conducting more brain imaging with research participants. These tests include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans for amyloid and tau proteins, which are linked to Alzheimer’s. The center also will continue returning research results to its study participants, another area KU is leading in the Alzheimer’s research field, said Anne Arthur, MS, the center’s executive director.

“Coming up with a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is a team effort,” she said. “We can’t do research without volunteers.”

The center also plans to continue its robust public outreach, including efforts such as caregiver support groups across the state and Brain Health Boot Camps, online courses that share evidence-based strategies for protecting brain health.

The center’s leadership notes that they plan to continue pushing innovation throughout the state, seeking more ways for patients in rural areas to access dementia care.

New Alzheimer’s drugs and advances in screenings do no good if they don’t reach patients, said KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center co-director Jeffrey Burns, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Memory Care Clinic at The University of Kansas Health System.

“It comes down to access,” Burns said. “How can every Kansan have access to optimal brain health care?”

This year KU published a Brain Health Care Accelerator plan. Rather than relying only on KU’s Kansas City-based memory clinic and neurologists, the plan calls for equipping primary care doctors with cognitive screenings, blood tests, expert support and other tools they need to diagnose patients in their own offices. This could enable patients to begin treatment years earlier than the status quo.

Leaders said the NIA grant renewal provides the foundation for everything the center does.

“We're very proud of what we've accomplished here in 15 years of our federal designation as an Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center,” Swerdlow said. “And we're looking forward to moving forward at an accelerated pace with an even greater impact over the next five years.”