Personalized exercise plans to boost fitness and brain health for people with mild Alzheimer's
Precision Medicine in Alzheimer’s Disease: A SMART Trial of Adaptive Exercises and Their Mechanisms of Action Using AT(N) Biomarkers to Optimize Aerobic-Fitness Responses
This project will try starting people with mild Alzheimer's on moderate aerobic exercise and switch non-responders to high-intensity or combined training to improve fitness and brain health.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Arizona State University-Tempe Campus NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Scottsdale, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11326255 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would start with three months of moderate aerobic exercise while your fitness (peak oxygen use) is measured. If your fitness does not improve enough, researchers will randomly switch you to either high-intensity interval training or a combined aerobic-plus-resistance program for the remainder of the six-month course. The team will collect fitness measures and Alzheimer’s biomarkers (amyloid, tau, and signs of neurodegeneration) to see how different exercise plans affect the brain. The design is adaptive so the exercise plan can change early based on your individual response.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Community-dwelling adults with mild Alzheimer's dementia who are 21 or older and medically able to perform supervised aerobic and resistance exercise and undergo fitness and biomarker testing.
Not a fit: People with advanced dementia, medical conditions that make exercise unsafe, or those unwilling to undergo fitness testing or biomarker measurements are unlikely to benefit from this protocol.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to tailored exercise prescriptions that better improve fitness, daily function, and brain health for people with mild Alzheimer's.
How similar studies have performed: Previous exercise studies have shown mixed effects on cognition and function and human data on exercise effects on Alzheimer’s biomarkers are limited, so this personalized approach is promising but not yet proven.
Where this research is happening
Scottsdale, United States
- Arizona State University-Tempe Campus — Scottsdale, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Yu, Fang — Arizona State University-Tempe Campus
- Study coordinator: Yu, Fang
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.