While investigators at UCI have long recognized the potential of these mutually informative lines of research, it isn’t until recently that the field has come to understand the enormous potential of understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of AD through the lens of DS. As a result of this changing scientific landscape and UCI’s early prominence in AD and aging DS research, UCI is uniquely at the intersection of these two areas and positioned to be among the world’s leaders in aging DS research. The UCI DS program was founded by Dr. Ira Lott in the Department of Pediatrics in 1985, while Dr. Carl Cotman in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior founded the UCI Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) in 1983.  

Recognizing the value of following an aging DS cohort for AD research, Drs. Lott and Cotman combined their efforts and visions and were the first to establish an aging DS cohort as part of an ADRC. The DS cohort is a strength of the UCI ADRC and makes us unique among the 32 NIA-funded ADRC’s. Much of UCI’s outstanding aging DS and AD research and the unique opportunity of the intersection of these areas now represent, is attributable to the vision and leadership of Drs. Lott and Cotman. The current leadership of the ADRC (Dean LaFerla) and the Institute for Memory Impairment and Neurological Disorders (MIND) (Dr. Josh Grill) remain staunch supporters of these research efforts.  The UCI ADRC has now officially received funding from the NIA for another 5 years. This is the first time that the aging DS cohort has a dedicated Core and the only one of its kind in the USA.

In 2015, Dr. Ira Lott and colleagues at Columbia University and Harvard University were awarded a U01 by NIA and NICHD for a clinical study of biomarkers of AD in people with DS. A second U01 was awarded to another group of researchers from the Universities of Pittsburgh and Wisconsin for the same main objective. Under NIH direction, the two U01 projects were harmonized and renamed the Alzheimer’s Biomarker Consortium- Down Syndrome (ABC-DS).  

Over the course of the ABC-DS, the UCI School of Medicine recruited two new faculty members with unique interest at the intersection of aging DS and AD. Dr. Mark Mapstone was recruited to the Department of Neurology from the University of Rochester and Dr. Elizabeth Head was recruited to the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology from the University of Kentucky. Drs. Mapstone and Head play leadership roles in the current ABC-DS. The UCI site of the current ABC-DS is a major clinical recruitment site and a total of 86 older adults with Down syndrome are enrolled in our longitudinal research programs.

Contact

cfar-ds@uci.edu

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