Stanford Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Clinical Trials and Research Studies

Healthy Brain Aging Study

Goal: The Healthy Brain Aging Study refers to research undertaken by the Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). The Stanford ADRC is part of a nationwide network of congressionally mandated Centers of Excellence supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We study people with Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, Lewy body disease, Parkinson’s disease, and normal cognition (healthy brain aging). The goal is to obtain information on factors that affect the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders and to find out how healthy brain aging differs from disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The study collects information on medical history and family history. Data collection often includes questionnaires, memory testing, a blood sample, a brain scan, a stool sample, a very small (3 millimeter) skin biopsy, and spinal fluid examination. Not everyone can do all these studies, but we ask participants to consider these when possible. The Healthy Brain Study follows volunteers over time, and many participants consider brain donation at the time of death. Brain donation provides a definitive diagnosis and provides tissues for scientific research.
Sponsor: The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. P30 AG066515)
PI: Victor Henderson, MD, MS
Study status: Actively recruiting
Contact: Veronica Ramirez
vramirez1@stanford.edu
(650) 721-2409
 

Mind & Memory Changes Study (LB-SPARK)

Goal: The aim is to understand mind and memory changes in Parkinson’s disease through this longitudinal study over time
Sponsor: The Lewy Body Scientific Partnership for Advancing Research and Knowledge
PI: Kathleen Poston, MD, MS
Study status: actively recruiting individuals with Parkinson’s disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies, and healthy volunteers
Coordinator: Alena Smith (lbsparkstudy@stanford.edu)
 

Alzheimer Gut Microbiome Project (AGMP)

Goal: To understand the role of the gut microbiome derived from stool samples in relation to Alzheimer disease.
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. U19 AG063744) and Duke University
PI:  Ami Bhatt, MD, PhD and Victor Henderson, MD, MS
Study status: Recruit occurs through the Stanford ADRC
 

Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD)

Goal: To study the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease in people of Chinese ancestry (Mandarin- or English-speaking).  Eligible ACAD participants are encouraged to co-enroll in the Stanford ADRC.
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. R56 AG069130) and the University of Pennsylvania
PI:  Victor Henderson, MD, MS
Study status: Actively recruiting
Research coordinator:  Veronica Ramirez
vramirez1@stanford.edu
(650) 721-2409
 

Development of a cost-effective and neurobiologically valid VR assessment tool for early detection of AD

Goal: To assess virtual reality measures in relation to MRI brain scan images to detect very early changes of Alzheimer’s disease.
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. R21 AG073973)
PI:  Hadi Hosseini, PhD
Study status: Recruiting
Research coordinator: Samantha Reitmaier
mcik_study@stanford.edu
or samreit@stanford.edu
(650) 724-2939
 

Early Onset AD Consortium - the LEAD Study (LEADS)

Goal: To study the natural history of people with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in order to improve diagnosis and assess biomarker progression.  LEADS participants are eligible to co-enroll in the Stanford ADRC.
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. U01 AGA057195) and Indiana University/Purdue University
PI:  Sharon Sha, MD, MS
Study status: Recruiting
Research coordinator: Savneet Takhar, Amanda Ng
sktakhar@stanford.edu or amandang@stanford.edu
(650) 304-7428 or (650) 485-9560
 

Iron as an imaging biomarker for inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease

Goal: To learn how iron may be involved in Alzheimer’s disease through MRI and PET-MRI brain imaging.
Sponsor: NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. R01 AG061120) and GE Healthcare
Status: Actively recruiting
PI: Michael Zeineh, MD
Research Coordinator: Meghan Bell
mbell11@stanford.edu
(650) 736-1584
 

Neighborhoods Study: Contextual disadvantage and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Goal: To evaluate how neighborhood disadvantage across the life span affects the risk of dementia (limited to Stanford ADRC participants).
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. R01AG070883) and the University of Wisconsin
PI:  Victor Henderson, MD, MS and Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa, PhD
Study status: Not recruiting
Research coordinator:  Nicole Caceres
 

Palliative care needs and outcomes for dementia patients

Goal: In older adults with and without cognitive impairment, the goal is to study an early palliative care intervention.
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. R01 AG062239)
PI: VJ Periyakoil, MD
Study status: Recruiting
 

Speaker-listener coupling and brain dynamics during naturalistic verbal communication in Alzheimer's disease

Goal: To study natural speech communication in Alzheimer’s disease using functional MRI brain imaging.
Sponsor:  The NIH National Institute on Aging (grant no. R21 DC017950-02S1)
PI:  Vinod Menon, PhD and Daniel Abrams, PhD
Study status: Actively recruiting
Research coordinator: Delaney Ubellacker, braindevelopment@stanford.edu
 

Tool to identify Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies using digital facial expression biomarkers

Goal: To create a digital image of the face in people with early stages of Parkinson’s disease to help predict the severity and progression of Parkinson symptoms.
Sponsor: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease Research and Global Brain Health Institute
PI: Kathleen Poston, MD, MS
Study status: Actively recruiting
Research coordinator: Alena Smith
alenaa@stanford.edu
(650) 269-0484

The Stanford Neurosciences Clinical Trials Team conducts clinical trials supported by industry, foundations, and the federal government.  Additional information is available at ClinicalTrials.gov and through the following link:  https://med.stanford.edu/neurology/research/clinicaltrials.html