Washington University University of Texas Southwestern VCID Consortium Site

Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) are the second leading cause of dementia, and a major contributor to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia. Noninvasive biomarkers are critical for development of prevention and treatment strategies for VCID. The first grant cycle of the MarkVCID consortium identified 11 candidate imaging and fluid biomarkers. In this second grant cycle (RFA-NS-21-005), the VCID consortium has carried out “comprehensive multi-site clinical validation of up to six of these 11 biomarkers.” Through a strong partnership between Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center (WU-UTSW), we have enrolled approximately 200 particpants, who have been longitudinally followed with standardized cognitive assessments, MR imaging, and blood collection. This supplement is needed to assay the collected blood samples from these participants to measure plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) and pTau 217 levels. These blood biomarkers will provide data on neuronaxonal injury and Alzheimer’s disease status, and will be important for future analyses. Project Number: 3UF1NS125512-02S1 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) | Principal Investigator: Jin-Moo Lee (+2 co-PIs) | Institution: WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, SAINT LOUIS, MO | Award Amount: $104,185 | Activity Code: UF1 View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11532983