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Alzheimer Research Forum (ARF), or Alzforum is a website which uses web technology to accelerate research into Alzheimer's disease.
The website was founded in 1996 by June Kinoshita, funded by an anonymous philanthropic foundation, and launched at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Osaka, Japan, The forum brings together a team of specialists in science writing and editing, data curation, information architecture, project management and technology.
Alzforum was established as an independent neutral Non-profit organization, without affiliation to any specific university or research institute. Its relations with the scientific community include an advisory board with leaders in the scientific community representing diverse points of view.
At first the site took the form of ‘Papers of the Week’ listings, including abstracts of all relevant publications (initially manually produced in order to avoid copyright infringement), commentary, virtual audio seminars, and a list of seminal papers in Alzheimer's research. The Web's potential for interactivity was used for informal live chats and commentary on papers by registered users of the site. By the end of the first year there were 1200 users, adding as many as 100 new users a month in the first years of its existence.
From 1997, the website also began to develop as a community repository, enabling researchers to deposit data sets. Currently it maintains several databases relating to gene mutations, gene association studies, epidemiological studies, antibodies, drug trials, protocols and antecedent biomarker studies. Of particular note are the AlzGene database of genetic studies of Alzheimer's disease, which has been cited more than 1,200 times in the scientific literature,[ citation needed ] and the AlzRisk database of epidemiologic studies. The forum acts as an integrator of these diverse sources, linking primary research articles to related news, papers, databases, and discussions .
From 2000 onwards a data-driven dynamic system has been used to automatically search and download PubMed citations into a database, and provide tools for editors to post news and comments and crosslink them to related material. The development of semantic web tools is a current and ongoing development. These assist in the identification of hypotheses and related evidence in papers and discussions. SWAN (Semantic Web Applications in Neuromedicine) has resulted from a collaboration between the forum and Massachusetts General Hospital. Work on this continues with the Scientific Collaboration Framework.
The forum has become a point of reference for researchers into AD.[ citation needed ] As of June 2013 it has more than 8300 registered users. It is estimated[ citation needed ] that 30–50% of researchers from a wide range of institutions and countries studying Alzheimer's internationally are registered or active on the site.
The success of Alzforum has resulted in its online disease-specific scientific community framework being cloned in other areas of research into neurological disorders. Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum, Pain Research Forum, Schizophrenia Research Forum and PD Online (a site for research into Parkinson's disease, funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation) are using the same approach [1] as Alzforum.
The science of epidemiology has matured significantly from the times of Hippocrates, Semmelweis and John Snow. The techniques for gathering and analyzing epidemiological data vary depending on the type of disease being monitored but each study will have overarching similarities.
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is one of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Human genetic enhancement or human genetic engineering refers to human enhancement by means of a genetic modification. This could be done in order to cure diseases, prevent the possibility of getting a particular disease, to improve athlete performance in sporting events, or to change physical appearance, metabolism, and even improve physical capabilities and mental faculties such as memory and intelligence. These genetic enhancements may or may not be done in such a way that the change is heritable.
UK Biobank is a large long-term biobank study in the United Kingdom (UK) which is investigating the respective contributions of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to the development of disease. It began in 2006.
The Rat Genome Database (RGD) is a database of rat genomics, genetics, physiology and functional data, as well as data for comparative genomics between rat, human and mouse. RGD is responsible for attaching biological information to the rat genome via structured vocabulary, or ontology, annotations assigned to genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL), and for consolidating rat strain data and making it available to the research community. They are also developing a suite of tools for mining and analyzing genomic, physiologic and functional data for the rat, and comparative data for rat, mouse, human, and five other species.
The Alzheimer's Association was founded by Jerome H. Stone with the help of several family members in Chicago, Illinois, and incorporated on April 10, 1980, as the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association, Inc. It is a non-profit American volunteer health organization which focuses on care, support and research for Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Association is the largest non-profit funder of Alzheimer's disease research. The organization has chapters and communities across the nation, with its national office located in Chicago and the public policy office in Washington, D.C. Its mission is "to eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health."
Public health genomics is the use of genomics information to benefit public health. This is visualized as more effective preventive care and disease treatments with better specificity, tailored to the genetic makeup of each patient. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), Public Health genomics is an emerging field of study that assesses the impact of genes and their interaction with behavior, diet and the environment on the population's health.
The 1000 Genomes Project, launched in January 2008, was an international research effort to establish by far the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation. Scientists planned to sequence the genomes of at least one thousand anonymous participants from a number of different ethnic groups within the following three years, using newly developed technologies which were faster and less expensive. In 2010, the project finished its pilot phase, which was described in detail in a publication in the journal Nature. In 2012, the sequencing of 1092 genomes was announced in a Nature publication. In 2015, two papers in Nature reported results and the completion of the project and opportunities for future research.
SNPedia is a wiki-based bioinformatics web site that serves as a database of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Each article on a SNP provides a short description, links to scientific articles and personal genomics web sites, as well as microarray information about that SNP. Thus SNPedia may support the interpretation of results of personal genotyping from, e.g., 23andMe and similar companies.
Xenbase is a Model Organism Database (MOD), providing informatics resources, as well as genomic and biological data on Xenopus frogs. Xenbase has been available since 1999, and covers both X. laevis and X. tropicalis Xenopus varieties. As of 2013 all of its services are running on virtual machines in a private cloud environment, making it one of the first MODs to do so. Other than hosting genomics data and tools, Xenbase supports the Xenopus research community though profiles for researchers and laboratories, and job and events postings.
Peter Davies was a Welsh scientist and active researcher. He was the head and director of the Litwin-Zucker Research Center for The Study of Alzheimer's disease and memory disorders, associated with the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, US.
Michel Goedert FRS, FMedSci is a Luxembourgish-British neuroscientist and former Head of Neurobiology, at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.
Rudolph Emile 'Rudy' Tanzi is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, Vice-Chair of Neurology, Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit, and Co-director of the Henry and Allison McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Tanzi has been investigating the genetics of neurological disease since the 1980s when he participated in the first study that used genetic markers to find a disease gene. Dr. Tanzi co-discovered all three familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease (FAD) genes and several other neurological disease genes including that responsible for Wilson’s disease. As the leader of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Alzheimer's Genome Project, Dr. Tanzi has carried out multiple genome wide association studies of thousands of Alzheimer's families leading to the identification of novel AD candidate genes, including CD33 and the first two rare mutations causing late-onset AD in the ADAM10 gene. His research on the role of zinc and copper in AD has led to clinical trials at Prana Biotechnology. He is also working on gamma secretase modulators for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's. He also serves as Chair of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research Leadership Group and Director the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Alzheimer's Genome Project™.
Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum (MSDF) is a non-profit online resource created to speed progress toward a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other demyelinating diseases by enabling faster sharing of information and free discussion among MS researchers in academia, industry, and the clinic.
The Krembil Research Institute, formerly known as the Toronto Western Research Institute, is an academic medical research institute in Toronto. It is one of the largest research institutes in Canada focusing on human neurological disease.
The National Alzheimer's Project Act is an Act in the United States that was driven by the rapid increasing number of sufferers of Alzheimer's disease. It resulted in a U.S. National Alzheimer's Plan for increased spending on scientific research, care, and public engagement.
Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D., is a neurogeneticist and professor within the Department of Neuroscience at the Mayo Clinic. Her research centers on the genetic basis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as identifying causal genes and their function, exploring familial risk factors, and the mechanism of the degeneration. Her neurodegenerative diseases of focus include "Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)." She received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology, a Master of Arts in Biochemistry, and a Ph.D. in Science, all from the University of Antwerp. Originally from the Netherlands, she came to the Mayo Clinic in 2005 for a post-doctoral fellowship, and in 2007 she was given a lab director position.
Experimental models of Alzheimer's disease are organism or cellular models used in research to investigate biological questions about Alzheimer's disease as well as develop and test novel therapeutic treatments. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with aging, which occurs both sporadically or due to familial passed mutations in genes associated with Alzheimer's pathology. Common symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease include: memory loss, confusion, and mood changes.
Eric R. Gamazon is a statistical geneticist in Vanderbilt University, with faculty affiliations in the Division of Genetic Medicine, Data Science Institute, and Center for Precision Medicine. He is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University after election to a Visiting Fellowship (2018).
Alzheimer's disease (AD) in African Americans is becoming a rising topic of interest in AD care, support, and scientific research, as African Americans are disproportionately affected by AD. Recent research on AD has shown that there are clear disparities in the disease among racial groups, with higher prevalence and incidence in African Americans than the overall average. Pathologies for Alzheimer’s also seem to manifest differently in African Americans, including with neuroinflammation markers, cognitive decline, and biomarkers. Although there are genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s, these account for few cases in all racial groups.
