Aging Healthy Together: Personalized risk and resilience profiles for thinking and memory
Project 2: Aging Healthy Together: Precision Profiles of Resilience and Risk
This project looks at blood tests, brain scans, and other health measures to find patterns that predict memory and thinking changes in adults ages 50–79.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Arizona NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Tucson, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11184306 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, you'll have blood tests, biometric measures, genetics, carotid ultrasound, and MRI scans to measure heart, metabolic, inflammatory, and immune factors. Researchers will combine these biomarkers with lifestyle and psychosocial information from 1,620 adults aged 50–79 at sites in Tucson, Atlanta, Miami, and Baltimore. They will link different profiles of risk and resilience to how people perform on memory, executive function, and processing speed tests and see whether MRI measures explain those links. The team will compare prediction models across Hispanic/Latino, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White participants and collect preliminary data on cognitive change over time.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults aged 50–79, including Hispanic/Latino, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White individuals, who are willing to undergo blood draws, brain imaging, and cognitive testing.
Not a fit: People under age 50, those with advanced dementia, or anyone unable to have MRI scans or blood draws are unlikely to be eligible or benefit from the findings.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify people at higher risk for age-related cognitive decline so interventions can be targeted earlier and more precisely.
How similar studies have performed: Prior studies have linked vascular, metabolic, inflammatory, and immune markers to cognitive decline, but combining all four biomarker domains with MRI across diverse racial and ethnic groups for individualized prediction is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Tucson, United States
- University of Arizona — Tucson, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Ryan, Lee — University of Arizona
- Study coordinator: Ryan, Lee
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.