Shared digital brain tissue platform for Alzheimer's and related dementias
Federated digital pathology platform for AD/ADRD research and diagnostics
This project is building a secure, shared system so researchers can use digital images of brain tissue to improve understanding and diagnostics for people with Alzheimer's and related dementias.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Kentucky NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Lexington, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-10985020 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From your perspective, researchers at multiple centers will link their digital slides of brain tissue into a common system that keeps data locally but lets tools learn from many sites. They will create open-source tools to standardize, label, and harmonize images and related patient information like age and ancestry. The platform will use federated machine learning so AI models can be trained across sites without moving raw images, and a central portal will manage projects and results. Over time this should help make pathology-based diagnostics more consistent and inclusive across different populations.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are people with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias who have donated or could donate brain tissue samples to participating research centers or brain banks.
Not a fit: People without available brain-tissue samples or those seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to receive direct, immediate benefit from this platform.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could speed development of more accurate and widely applicable pathology-based diagnostics and AI tools for Alzheimer's and related dementias.
How similar studies have performed: Federated learning and AI have shown promise in medical imaging, but applying these methods specifically to multi-center Alzheimer's neuropathology data is relatively new and is still being validated.
Where this research is happening
Lexington, United States
- University of Kentucky — Lexington, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Nelson, Peter T. — University of Kentucky
- Study coordinator: Nelson, Peter T.
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.