ADNI data is made available to researchers around the world. As such, there are many active research projects accessing and applying the shared ADNI data. To further encourage Alzheimer’s disease research collaboration, and to help prevent duplicate efforts, the list below shows the specific research focus of the active ADNI investigations. This information is requested annually as a requirement for data access.
| Principal Investigator | |
| Principal Investigator's Name: | Fan Zhang |
| Institution: | UNTHSC |
| Department: | Molecular and Medical Genetics |
| Country: | |
| Proposed Analysis: | It is becoming increasingly apparent that genes do not function alone but through complex biological pathways in complex diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Unraveling these intricate pathways is essential to understanding biological mechanisms of AD. Pathway-based association analysis allows for the discovery of highly significant pathways from the AD vs normal controls samples. Knowledge of activation of these processes will lead to novel markers identifying their signatures in patients at high risk for AD. Based on the Integrated Pathway Analysis Database (IPAD) we developed, we propose to develop pathway-based method to detect association with AD across all the three ANDI data sources. First, we will perform risk associated allele analysis to determine if a major or minor allele is associated with risk. Then we will perform pathway-disease association analysis to identify 18 AD-associated pathways. Lastly, we will perform pathway-patient association analysis to investigate the patient’s association and distribution among the top pathways. Top AD-associated pathways that have the highest association with patients will be identified as biomarkers. The pathway-based approach to detecting AD-associated pathways from GWAS data we propose not only provides a technique to identify disease-associated pathways, but also helps determine the pathway-patient association. We believe that the method will be able to help us with a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases such as AD. |
| Additional Investigators |
