Alzheimer’s Association Strategic Fund (VCID-UMD)

Grants available internationally to those conducting research into vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) and its contributions to Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias (AD/ARDRD) pathogenesis.

Based in the US, the Alzheimer’s Association seeks to treat, prevent and cure Alzheimer’s disease through research grant funding, enhancing care and support, and promoting brain health.

The Association has launched a call for proposals for research projects that fall under the title Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia – Understanding Mechanisms of Dysfunction (VCID-UMD). This call will be supported by the Alzheimer’s Disease Strategic Fund, established in 2019 to support studies that advance understanding of mechanistic and underpinning biology of disease.

Through this call, the Association aims to support innovative, high-risk, collaborative team science opportunities that investigate and focus on outstanding questions related to the biological underpinnings of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including the vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). Projects should build off the last ten years of work to better understand VCID and its contributions to AD/ADRD pathogenesis by targeting scientific questions on how VCID may intersect with immune, lipid and endolysosomal related functions to contribute to disease.

The programme will solicit projects that aim to address some of the key challenges in current research as related to vascular dysfunction biology and contributions to AD/ADRD, including but not limited to:

• Understanding the vascular risk factors associated with AD/ADRD, including ageing or diabetes.
• Exploring how vascular dysfunctions alter brain metabolism, and how defects in mechanisms such as alterations in the blood brain barrier (BBB), neurovascular coupling, cerebral blood flow or waste clearance contribute to amyloid aggregation and neuronal loss.
• Investigating vascular-immune crosstalk including but not limited to understanding the roles of parenchymal versus peripheral immune signalling or the innate versus adaptive immune system, and how defects on the vasculature contribute to the disruption of brain immune homeostasis.
• Investigating the intersection between VCID, immune, lipid and endolysosomal function to contribute to AD/ADRD pathogenesis.
• Defining the role of APOE contribution to cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and ARIA that could contribute to AD/ADRD pathogenesis.
• Developing novel biomarkers and/or drug discovery and development related to vascular dysfunction to advance understanding of biological implications at early-phases of AD/ADRD.
• Developing key tools and/or resources, such as imaging, that if developed will benefit a broader range of scientific questions and/or studies related to neurovascular health. Tools and resources developed through this funding would be made broadly available to the scientific field. This could include the development of Experimental Models of Disease.