NACC News

August 12, 2024

National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center and Gates Ventures Launch New Program to Accelerate the Development of Digital Tools to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Discovery

$1.4 million awarded to promising digital projects

The National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) and Gates Ventures, the private office of Bill Gates, are delighted to announce the first recipients of the new Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) Digital Pilot Award. This award was open to teams from across academia and industry and provides funding for pioneering applications of digital technology within the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRC) Program and beyond to advance AD/ADRD discovery and translation.

The program will award nearly 1.4 million dollars to support two digital pilot projects. The global research community will be able to access the digital data collected through this program via the privacy-protected NACC data platform.

“We were thrilled to join forces with Gates Ventures on this important program. There is a huge potential for digital tools to enhance data collection and inclusion in AD/ADRD research and the ADRC Program is an ideal testbed for accelerating the development of impactful digital biomarkers for the field.”

Two proposals were selected for funding after a rigorous review process, with input from digital health experts across industry, government, and academia, culminating in a public pitch competition.

Lead researcher Jeffrey Kaye, M.D. from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has been awarded $884,000 for the project titled, EFFECT-AD: Everyday Frequent Functional Evaluation with Crosscutting Technology for AD. This initiative aims to utilize motion-activity bracelets to gain a comprehensive, unbiased insight into the daily functioning of people with or at risk for dementia in their natural surroundings. Dr. Kaye emphasized, “These real-world measures of day-to-day functional activity are the most significant indicators of independent aging for individuals living with or at risk of AD/ADRD, as well as for their loved ones. Therefore, the digital assessments will yield the most meaningful outcome measures for all our clinical studies and therapeutic trials.”

Lead researcher Joseph Winer, Ph.D. of Stanford University has been granted $505,000 for his project titled, Characterizing sleep-wake activity patterns across the spectrum of AD/ADRD. This initiative aims to analyze sleep-tracking data to ascertain the impact of changes in sleep and physical activity on disease progression. Dr. Winer remarked, “As more and more older adults monitor their activity using devices such as smartphones and fitness watches, it is crucial to leverage this opportunity to learn how these devices might provide insights into brain functioning. We believe that this project is a significant step in achieving this objective.”

The funded projects will deploy cutting-edge technology to enable in-depth data collection, with minimal burden on research participants, to gain critical new insights into AD/ADRD.

“I’m excited to see how the NACC digital pilot program will contribute to leveraging digital technologies that can potentially lead to early diagnosis, monitoring, and enabling ways to improve quality of life for people suffering from Alzheimer’s and related dementias,”