Phenotyping and Biospecimen Core

The Phenotyping and Biospecimen (P&B) Core's primary mission is to leverage two NIA-funded centenarian
studies by sifting through their study participants in identifying centenarian cognitive superagers, offspring and
offspring spouses for enrollment in the RADCO study, extending their phenotyping with annual uniform
neuropsychological testing, plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and facilitating and facilitating
neuroimaging and post-mortem neuropathological studies among willing participants. The P&B Core's
successful conduct of its six aims is critical to RADCO's investigation of centenarians and their offspring as
models of cognitive resilience and resistance to cognitive impairment and AD. Those 6 Specific Aims are:
Specific Aim 1. Establish a cognitive superagers (n=496, ages 100-110 years), offspring (n=600), and offspring
spouses (n=120) sample with baseline neuropsychological assessments, other phenotypic data, blood samples,
and genetic and biomarker data provided by 2 ongoing NIA-funded centenarian studies. Specific Aim 2. Perform
annual Covid-19-safe virtual neurocognitive assessments and other phenotypic data collection that are uniform
with the ILO study and LCCP measures. Also, to enhance accuracy of the neurocognitive assessments by
performing interdisciplinary expert diagnoses consensus conferences. Specific Aim 3. Employing REDCap,
manage and perform QC, and make easily but securely available all of the data collected and generated by the
RADCO Cores and Projects, including the neuropsychological, neuroimaging, neuropathologic phenotype and
biomarker and transcriptomic data. Specific Aim 4. To receive from the ILO+LCCP studies and then
longitudinally collect blood samples (centenarians annually, offspring and offspring spouses every other year)
from RADCO participants for use by the two projects. To maintain samples in a biorepository as a sharable
resource. Specific Aim 5. Support the RADCO Neuroimaging Core's aims by recruiting RADCO participants for
local neuroimaging and linking scan data to clinical data. Specific Aim 6. Recruit RADCO participants for future
brain donation, ensure that autopsies proceed smoothly, and link clinical data to anatomic, pathologic and
molecular data generated by the P&B neuropathology efforts. These data will inform the resilient and resistant
phenotypes delineated in Project 1. Brain area-specific tissues will be provided for RNA expression studies in
Project 2.

Grant Number: 5U19AG073172-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Stacy Andersen