The Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC) is comprised of two major institutions across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts—University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst), combining the Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences (Manning CICS) and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Through its member institutions and a National Network of Pilot Partners (N2P2), the MassAITC will bring to bear the combined resources of multiple existing centers and institutes and state-of-the-art research facilities.
MassAITC Research Cores & Facilities
The following research facilities can be made available to MassAITC pilot projects as fee for service or through partnering with an investigator at these sites.
IALS was established in 2014 with an investment from the Massachusetts Life Science Center with the goal of translating fundamental research into innovative product candidates, technologies, and services that deliver benefits to human health and well-being, serves as a catalyst and resource for ‘translational’ R&D activities, and manages the centralized campus core facilities/collaboratories. Some of the most relevant core facilities for MassAITC Pilots are listed below:
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IALS Center for Human Health and Performance (CH2P)
- The Human Motion Lab. Designed and equipped for assessment of human movement and the evaluation of wearable technologies for quantifying human motion. The lab is a 38’x20′ facility equipped with a Qualysys Oqus Infrared Motion Capture System, AMTI force platforms, and associated data processing software.
- The Living Science Lab. A unique home-like setting where researchers are able to investigate human behavior for prolonged periods. Includes living room and kitchen areas as well as a suite of wearable sensors and a Noldus Viso observation system.
- Exercise Intervention & Outcomes Lab. Houses a wide variety of equipment that to evaluate clinical markers of health including cardio-metabolic function and body composition. Includes a GE Lunar iDXA system.
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IALS Sleep Monitoring Lab: The only sleep research facility in the region equipped for overnight sleep studies to assess sleep and sleep physiology. The center has three bedrooms that can be used for polysomnography, the gold standard for sleep measurement.
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IALS mHealthLab: The mHealthLab supports performing mobile health experiments at scale and developing robust and personalized mHealth detectors. Services include the development of sensor-based mobile data collection platforms as well as data analytics.
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Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence – dataCore: This core provides data science and software engineering services in support of research and development to outside government, non-profit, and for-profit enterprises. Services offered include analysis, application development, deployment, and prototyping in areas such as data science, security, forensics, software development, informatics, machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and cloud computing. Data Core has access to the full range of research computing services provided by the UMass Amherst, including the Unity HPC cluster consisting of over 1,000 GPUs and over 5,000 CPU cores.
- Human Performance Lab (Driving Simulator): A state of the art facility includes a high fidelity driving simulator featuring a full size Ford Fusion allowing testing of a variety of driving scenarios under controlled conditions.
The MADRC is an NIA-funded P30 center that has been at the forefront of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia research, education, treatment, and care since 1984.
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MADRC Longitudinal Cohort: The MADRC maintains a longitudinal cohort of 400 deeply phenotyped older adults spanning the cognitive spectrum from normal cognition to dementia, including individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia, and other related disorders. Participants undergo annual cognitive and behavioral assessments, with additional data collected through neuroimaging, blood, and/or CSF collection. All data are standardized using the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set (UDS). The MADRC provides a valuable resource for MassAITC pilot projects, offering access to a well-characterized longitudinal cohort for participant recruitment to support the development and validation of AI and digital health technologies across a broad range of applications in aging and AD/ADRD. Additionally, a tech ready sub-cohort was established in 2024 with MassAITC research funding.
- MADRC Biomarker Core: The MADRC Biomarker Core provides infrastructure and expertise for biofluid processing, immunochemical and molecular assays, molecular biology techniques (including DNA and RNA isolation and PCR), histology, and microscopy. The Core is equipped with specialized instrumentation to support biomarker discovery and validation. It also provides access to biospecimens, including blood and CSF, collected from participants in the MADRC longitudinal cohort, enabling studies of biomarkers associated with aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and related dementias.
- Clinical and Translation Research Unit (CTRU): The CTRU takes a multidisciplinary, bench-to-bedside approach to designing and conducting patient-oriented experimental studies and clinical trials focused on aging, dementia, and other neurodegenerative disorders, including Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia. The unit integrates advanced digital health assessments, neuroimaging, and ultrasensitive molecular biomarker technologies for analyzing blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain tissue. CTRU infrastructure includes neurophysiological monitoring, neurostimulation and digital health technologies, fully equipped examination and procedure rooms with audiovisual recording capabilities, automated ultrasensitive fluid biomarker assays, and data visualization and virtual reality systems. The CTRU provides a valuable resource for MassAITC pilot projects involving the development, validation, and clinical evaluation of digital health technologies, biomarkers, and AI-driven approaches for aging and AD/ADRD.
Note: Access to MADRC participants, biospecimens, and CTRU resources will be coordinated with the respective cores and is subject to applicable institutional and regulatory approvals.
Additional Implementation Sites and Partner Organizations
MassAITC has created a National Network of Pilot Partners (N2P2) comprised of organizations who can serve as implementation sites or otherwise partner with pilot applicants to carry out their project. You’ll find the initial cohort of pre-vetted N2P2 sites below:
CITA includes 43 core and affiliated faculty members with expertise across a range of health topics. CITA has affiliation with three medical systems.
Recruitment Capacity
Can conduct participant recruitment, including healthy older adults, people with MCI, people with AD/ADRD, and caregivers. Has ability to recruit participants via the EHR through medical system affiliations.
Resources and Facilities
- Audiology & hearing assessment
- Behavioral observation labs
- Biobank (1000 samples)
- Datasets
- Driving Simulator
- Electronics & Instrumentation
- Fabrication, machining & 3D printing
- GPU workstations & clusters
- Imaging
- Motion capture, gait & force lab
- Robotics
- Sleep lab
- Virtual & Augmented Reality
KU ADRC has been a national designated NIA-funded P30 center since 2011 and is a leader in rural health. Center can provide study coordination and IRB consultation.
Recruitment Capacity
- Participant recruitment including for healthy older adults, people with MCI, people with AD/ADRD, caregivers, or caregiver-care patient dyads
- Research registry of 10,000 older adults
- Longitudinal observation cohort of 500 participants (100 MCI | 100 AD/ADRD | 300 cognitively normal)
- Caregiver cohort of 84 participants
- Capability of recruitment via EHR
Resources and Facilities
- Biobank (Buffy Coat, CSF, Cybrid cell lines, DNA, Plasma, Platelet-Poor Plasma, Platelets, Serum, Whole blood, Brain tissue, Fibroblast cell lines, iPSCs, NPCs, Muscle tissue, Postmortem CSF, Skin)
- Biomarker Core: Expertise & support for biospecimen collection, processing, and storage protocols. Can assist with fluid biomarker analyses and molecular, cellular, and bioenergetics-focused assays.
- Driving Simulator
- Gait Lab
- Neuroimaging Core: Support for both prospective and secondary research. Expertise in MRI and PET imaging. Can assist with study design, image acquisition, image processing, quality control, and anlysis.
- Sleep Lab
The Healthy Home Lab house was acquired in 2022 with purpose to use a real home for research and innovation. The home is used to replicate real life scenarios older adults may encounter during their day.
Recruitment Capacity
Can conduct participant recruitment for healthy adults (age 60+), caregivers, and caregiver/care recipient dyads from three distinct registries.
Resources and Facilities
- Smart Apartment: The Healthy Home Lab evaluates the facilitators and barriers to using smart technologies in a “real” home -that is 100+ years old.
- Shared Research Facilities: Additional core facilities and resources are available to access through affiliated University of Pittsburgh faculty via the iLab system.
Center Communities of Brookline (CCB) is part of the family of Hebrew Senior Life senior living facilities. CCB is a 4 building, 565 unit affordable independent senior living facility with supportive services located in Brookline, MA. CCB is open to being a potential pilot project site for various technologies that demonstrate a benefit to support of older adults or an organizational need.
Recruitment Capacity
Older adults (age 60+) living across the 565 units.
Resources and Facilities
Small onsite office space would be made available for partnering applicants.
Note: Any potential partner or program will require legal review of but not limited to, ensuring protection of residents, privacy, and health information.