( of the biggest Alzheimer’s disease epid...)A new century of Alzheimer's disease research,Health

In Rochester, which is in Olmsted County, Minn., more than 2,000 residents from 70 to 89 years old have been randomly selected and have signed up. And in Scottsdale, Ariz., 600 asymptomatic adults in their 50s and 60s are enrolled in an effort to define “normal aging.” In Jacksonville, Fla., over 1,000 individuals, including more than 350 African-Americans, are participating. Hundreds of Alzheimer’s disease patients being treated at the three Mayo campuses are also taking part.

With the generous permission of participants, researchers are routinely collecting blood samples to define genetic profiles and look for changes in blood chemistry, including proteins that are sent floating downstream from the brain.

“We want to put all this information together to create a predictive equation that can determine an individual’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” says Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. “The whole idea is to move back detection of the disease process earlier and earlier.”

Such biological profiling could also help in the effort to develop and test therapeutic drugs, he says. “If we have clarified who is more likely to develop the disease, we can allocate treatment appropriately,” he says.

Much of the blood collected by Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Scottsdale is shared with researchers at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. “The cross-talk between these three centers is really advancing Alzheimer’s disease science,” says Richard Caselli, M.D., who heads Alzheimer’s disease research at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Scottsdale.

The patients also undergo periodic cognitive testing, and many of them offer to participate in a bevy of different imaging studies. Based on the pioneering imaging work of Clifford Jack, M.D., in Rochester, patients may undergo magnetic resonance imaging (M
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