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AD-Related Dementias Focus
Use experimental models to investigate how aging, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease impact myelin, white matter degeneration and neurodegeneration.
2027 RFA-NS-19-039: Mechanistic Basis of Diffuse White Matter Disease in Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID)(R01) RFA-NS-19-012: Post-Stroke Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) in the United States Including in Health Disparities Populations RFA-NS-20-013: White Matter Disease Etiology of Dementia in the U.S. Including in Health Disparities Populations NOT-NS-21-039: Innovative Approaches or Technologies to Investigate Regional, Structural and Functional Heterogeneity of CNS Small Blood and Lymphatic Vessels in AD/ADRD NOT-NS-21-041: Characterization of Genomics of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines for AD/ADRD Research NOT-NS-22-001: Postmortem Pathology, Cellular, and Molecular Analyses to Determine the Significance of White Matter Lesions and other Imaging Findings of Presumed Vascular Origin During Life RFA-NS-24-027: VCID Center Without Walls for Understanding and Leveraging Small Vessel Cerebrovascular Disease Mechanisms in ADRD (R01 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) PAR-24-196: Mechanistic and Hemodynamic Basis of Diffuse White Matter Disease in Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID)(R01 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 2.R In Progress Encourage basic science research that investigates the impact of cerebrovascular risk factors/genes and atherosclerosis on AD-related neurodegeneration. DN 2016 ADRD Summit: Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID), Including Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Dementia (VCID) Focus Area 1: Basic Mechanisms and Experimental Models, Recommendation 3 2022 ADRD Summit: Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) Milestone 3, Priority 4 NINDS Press Release: Pathogenic tau and cognitive impairment are precipitated by a high-salt diet Press Release: Salty immune cells surrounding the brain linked to hypertension-induced dementia Research on Disease Mechanisms Diverse VCID: White Matter Lesion Etiology of Dementia in Diverse Populations Determinants of Incident Stroke Cognitive Outcomes and Vascular Effects on Recovery (DISCOVERY) Select projects funded in FY21 Select projects funded in FY22 First National Center Without Walls (CWOW) for the Science of Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID)
- A national consortium to advance new basic research that provides rigorous and novel insight into how cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, and risk factors in different brain vascular zones, including in both gray matter and white matter, lead to vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID).
Summary of Key Accomplishments
NIH launched an initiative, known as the Determinants of Incident Stroke Cognitive Outcomes and Vascular Effects on Recovery (DISCOVERY) network, to determine the specific subsets of stroke events that cause (and do not cause) cognitive impairment and dementia in post-stroke populations in the United States, including in health disparities populations. The DISCOVERY Network examines the susceptibility and resilience to post-stroke cognitive impairment and dementia in a representative population of Black, Hispanic, and White stroke patients in the U.S., with a goal of developing potential therapeutic targets.
Further, NIH launched a separate initiative to determine the specific characteristics of white matter lesions that cause (and do not cause) VCID in the U.S., including in populations that experience health disparities. This led to the establishment of the Diverse VCID project. The aim of Diverse VCID is to determine the characteristics of white matter lesions and other comorbidities that are most likely to result in cognitive decline. Both DISCOVERY and Diverse VCID include biomarker and genetic research specifically designed for fundamental genetic and biomarker discovery research.
Another initiative supported by NIH is Blood Brain Barrier Response to Antibodies Targeting Beta-Amyloid, which solicited applications designed to increase understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms that could be targeted to protect the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and thus brain blood vessels, during therapeutic interventions that target amyloid-beta. In 2024, NIH funded two projects to promote the discovery of cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie brain blood vessel responses to passive anti-amyloid immunotherapy that result in amyloid-beta-related imaging abnormalities and other potentially adverse cerebrovascular responses.
Additionally, in 2024, NINDS and NIA collaborated to launch the VCID Center Without Walls for Understanding and Leveraging Small Vessel Cerebrovascular Disease Mechanisms in ADRD. The purpose of the initiative is to support research designed to advance understanding of basic disease-related molecular mechanisms of VCID in parallel in human-based and model-based studies. Six projects were funded through this initiative in FY 2024 which focus on molecular mechanisms of small cerebral vessel diseases including arteriolosclerosis, cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and atherosclerosis that contribute to dementia diagnoses and future development of interventions including prevention and better clinical outcomes.
The key accomplishments summary is current as of September 2025.