Imaging TDP-43 changes in primary progressive aphasia and genetic frontotemporal dementia
Official title: Biological Bases for Neuroimaging Signatures of TDP-43 in Primary Progressive Aphasia and Genetic FTLD
Funded at University of Pennsylvania · NIH-11265593 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project aims to find brain imaging markers of the TDP-43 protein in people with primary progressive aphasia and inherited frontotemporal dementia so doctors can better tell these cases apart from tau-related disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | P01 program project |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Pennsylvania NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Philadelphia, United States) |
| Project start | September 15, 2020 |
| Project end | December 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $329,904 |
| NIH project number | 2P01AG066597-06A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11265593 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia (especially semantic-variant or non-fluent/agrammatic variants) or individuals with known genetic frontotemporal lobar degeneration who can travel to the study center.
✕Less likely to help
People whose language problems come from other causes (such as Alzheimer’s disease or stroke) or those unable to undergo imaging visits are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
You would be part of research comparing brain scans and language tests from people with different types of primary progressive aphasia and those with genetic frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Researchers will look at patterns of gray-matter and white-matter degeneration and brain network connectivity that match TDP-43 versus tau pathology. They will use clinical language measurements, neuroimaging, and comparisons to genetic and autopsy data to link imaging patterns to the underlying proteinopathy. The goal is to create imaging signatures that indicate whether TDP-43 is driving the disease in a living person.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could let clinicians identify TDP-43 pathology in living patients using MRI or related brain imaging, improving diagnosis and tracking of disease.
How similar studies have gone: This approach is relatively novel—while imaging markers exist for tau pathology, there are currently no established in-vivo imaging biomarkers specific for TDP-43, so the work is largely untested.
Where this research is happening
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University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gee, James C — University of Pennsylvania
- Study coordinator: Gee, James C
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Communication Bridge: Improving language therapy for people with primary progressive aphasia
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Bilingualism and language resilience in Hispanic people with primary progressive aphasia
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Communication Bridge helps people with primary progressive aphasia talk more clearly
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Improving communication support for people with primary progressive aphasia
This project improves and delivers an evidence-based speech and communication program to help people with primary progressive aphasia and their care partners, including through telehealth.
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Primary Progressive Aphasia: How speech and language decline happens and progresses
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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.