The Tracy Family SILQ Center will fund pilot studies up to $50,000 for one year to support novel research in Alzheimer’s disease, other neurodegenerative diseases or aging. The principal goal of these funds is to generate pilot data to develop collaborative, fundable and sustainable research lines through competitive NIH and other research funding mechanisms.
Goals
- Better understand the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, primarily through aggregation of proteins in the brain and the role of these proteins in the disease process.
- Develop and validate biomarkers for both diagnosis and prognosis.
- Discover and implement simple and effective diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
- Accelerate the development of new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases.
Pilot projects
A phase II study repurposing atomoxetine for neuroprotection in mild cognitive impairment
2024
Principal investigators: Allan Levey, MD, PhD, David Weinshenker, PhD
A study to explore the effects of aromatase inhibition treatment in Alzheimer’s disease CSF and blood biomarkers
2023
Principal investigator: Randall Bateman, MD
Developing predictive and diagnostic biomarkers for amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) in Alzheimer’s disease
2025
Principal investigator: Jorge J. Llibre-Guerra, MD
Development of IP-MS assay for measuring exon 4a and 6 peptides in the CNS and PNS for the estimation of their relative contribution to total tau quantity in biofluids
2023
Principal investigator: Soumya Mukherjee, PhD
Examining the relationship between 14-3-3 and tau species in Alzheimer disease
2024
Principal investigator: Suzanne Schindler, MD, PhD
High resolution analysis of NfL in spinal muscular atrophy
2023
Principal investigators: Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, Cindy Ly, MD, PhD
Identification of novel post-translational modifications (acetylation and ubiquitination) of tau in Alzheimer’s disease and primary tauopathies
2023
Principal investigator: Kanta Horie, PhD
Mapping ADRD biomarkers in CSF following an intervention targeting biological aging mechanisms using rapamycin
2023
Principal investigators: Miranda Orr, PhD, Mitzi Gonzales, PhD
Mass-spectroscopic characterization of N-terminal PTMs and isoform distribution of Aβ species in vascular deposits vs. parenchymal plaques
2024
Principal investigator: Katherine Schwetye, MD, PhD
Plasma pTau205 as a candidate biomarker for Alzheimer disease
2022
Principal investigator: Nicolas Barthélemy, PhD
Quantitation and characterization of Aβ and tau in fresh 13C6 labeled leucine brain tissue and matched CSF and plasma
2023
Principal investigator: Ross Paterson, MRCP, PhD
Study using focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier to detect low levels of AD biomarkers
2025
Principal investigator: Hong Chen, PhD
Tau seed amplification assay together with mass spectrometry characterization identifies pathological tau species for extracellular propagation in Alzheimer’s disease
2023
Principal investigator: Kanta Horie, PhD
Utilizing plasma extracellular vesicles for tauopathies diagnosis – a mass spectrometry approach
2025
Principal investigator: Nicolas Barthélemy, PhD