Year: 2007-2011 (current)

Staff:

NARI: David Ames, Gihan de Mel, Simone Mangelsdorf

School of Psychiatry - University of New South Wales: Andrea Lammél, Allison Walker, Pamela Azar

Queensland Institute of Medical Research: Megan Ferguson, Clare Redfern, Amanda Toivanen

OATS Investigators: David Ames, Henry Brodaty, Tony Broe, Glenda Halliday, Teresa Lee, Nick Martin, Perminder Sachdev, Peter Schofield, Julian Trollor, Wei Wen, Margie Wright

OATS Collaborators: Bernard Baune, Lesley Campbell, Brian Draper, Diane Fatkin, Katherine Samaras, Katrina Scurrah, Jamie Vandenberg

Summary: To a large extent, it remains unclear what factors determine whether an individual ages successfully (i.e. with intact cognitive and physical function) or unsuccessfully, with compromised and/or progressive decline in cognitive and/or physical function. Using elderly twins and their siblings, our group hopes to elucidate the underlying influences on both successful and unsuccessful ageing. We will explore for particular genes that influence the development of specific changes in the brain associated with decline in cognitive function. We aim to look at other influences on brain ageing, such as past lifestyle factors, diet, and the presence of specific psychiatric and medical disorders. It will also be possible to examine the interactive effect between genetic and environmental influences on the ageing process.

Funding source: NHMRC/ARC Ageing Well, Ageing Productively grant

Year: 2006-2010 (current)

Staff:

David Ames (study leader), Kathryn Ellis (study manager)

AIBL management committee: David Ames (study leader), Kathryn Ellis (study manager), Christopher Rowe, Ralph Martins, Colin Masters, Andrew Milner, Peter Hudson, Lindsay Bevege, Kiara Bechta-Metti

All full list of AIBL collaborators can be found at www.aibl.nnf.com.au

Summary: The Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL) is one of the few large-scale longitudinal studies of Alzheimer’s disease. AIBL is a multi-centre prospective study of neuroimaging, biomarkers, clinical and neuropsychological measures, and lifestyle patterns in a cohort of 1000 volunteers comprised of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and healthy volunteers. The AIBL study aims to improve understanding of the pathogenesis, early diagnosis and clinical course of AD. At baseline, each volunteer completed the international physical activity questionnaire, a food frequency questionnaire, a comprehensive clinical and neuropsychology battery, and provided an 80ml blood sample for clinical pathology, biomarker analysis and storage in liquid nitrogen. In addition, 250 of the cohort (25% from each group) received a [C-11]PIB PET scan as a measure of in vivo amyloid and a MRI scan. The study was launched in November 2006 and comprehensive baseline data collection has been completed. Follow up assessments (18 month post-baseline) have now commenced.

Funding source: CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Cluster Funding