Academia Sinica Logo

Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is effectively untreatable, and invariably progresses to complete incapacitation and death 10 or more years after onset. As the US population ages, Alzheimer’s disease patients will increase from 5.4 million in 2016 to 11-16 million in 2050. During the past decade, with improved genotyping and sequencing technologies and availability of larger cohorts such as the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) and Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP), we have made significant strides in uncovering numerous genetic risk factors linked to this debilitating disease.

This presentation is an overview of our latest progress in Alzheimer’s disease genetics research.  I will introduce these projects, present our global collaborative network, support framework and resources, and main findings and implications. I will discuss challenges and opportunities in translating human genetic discoveries into biological insights and new treatment and diagnosis approaches, accentuating the transformative potential of our genetic revelations.

I will also introduce the ADSP Diversity Initiative and the Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease Study (ACAD). ACAD will study the impact of lifestyle and genetic factors on AD risk in Asian Americans and Canadians. It is the first large AD genetics cohort for Asians in the United States and Canada that aims to recruit up to 5,000 participants in the next five years. This initiative not only addresses the crucial gap in Asian representation in AD research but also holds the promise of shedding light on previously unexplored aspects of Alzheimer’s disease etiology within these populations.