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Past Webinar – Technology Use in Alzheimer’s Disease Research: Current Status & Future Promise, Rhoda Au

https://youtu.be/sXAMmZZ5YEM?si=d5QDssWNCXVmchEP Abstract: Digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to revolutionize cognitive health monitoring and Alzheimer’s disease prevention. Current high-burden, clinic-based assessments can be augmented by passive engagement technologies—leveraging smartphones and their array of embedded sensors for continuous, unobtrusive data collection. At the Framingham Heart Study and BU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, multi-sensor approaches combining smartphone applications, digital voice, eye-tracking, and in-home monitoring are being deployed to detect subtle cognitive and behavioral changes. Through the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, a global minimal viable protocol has been launched, integrating digital and blood-based biomarkers across diverse populations. Data sharing via the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative (ADDI) is accelerating discovery through open challenges and collaborative analytics. This paradigm shift emphasizes inclusivity, rethinking traditional study designs, and advancing from digital phenotyping to truly dynamic, multi-dimensional digital biomarkers. The long-term goal is early…

Continue ReadingPast Webinar – Technology Use in Alzheimer’s Disease Research: Current Status & Future Promise, Rhoda Au

Fall 2022 Pilot Grant Competition Launched

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MassAITC is pleased to announce that the Fall 2022 pilot grant competition has now opened. An overview of the MassAITC pilot grant program is available at https://massaitc.org/grants. The request for proposals is available at https://massaitc.org/rfpf22/. An introductory webinar will be held in conjunction with the a2 Collective on July 14th at 3:00pm ET (click here to register). Round 1 project proposals are due August 15th, 2022 and can be submitted through the a2 Pilot Awards common application site. For key dates, details about the application process, and FAQs, click here.

Continue ReadingFall 2022 Pilot Grant Competition Launched

Past Webinar – Sleep Measurement: Challenges and Opportunities to Measure Sleep Health, Rebecca Spencer

https://youtu.be/wmz-rMzTMDU?si=B-t8xSVptTgDL78p Abstract: Sleep plays a vital role in cognitive function, emotional regulation, and overall health, effects that are particularly salient in older adults and individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). In this webinar, Dr. Rebecca Spencer, a leading sleep researcher and Professor at UMass Amherst, provides a comprehensive overview of sleep’s physiological functions, such as memory consolidation and glymphatic waste clearance, and how these processes are altered by aging and neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Spencer examines the evolution of sleep measurement technologies, from gold-standard polysomnography to consumer-grade wearables and actigraphy. She critically assesses the validity and limitations of these tools, particularly when applied to aging and ADRD populations, and highlights challenges such as device comfort, physiological variability, and the need for population-specific validation. Finally, she explores promising avenues for technological innovation and targeted…

Continue ReadingPast Webinar – Sleep Measurement: Challenges and Opportunities to Measure Sleep Health, Rebecca Spencer

UMass Amherst, Brigham and Women’s Hospital to Lead New Center on AI, Aging and Alzheimer’s, Funded by $20 Million NIA Grant

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The University of Massachusetts Amherst and Brigham and Women’s Hospital announced today the launch of the new Massachusetts AI and Technology Center for Connected Care in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (MassAITC), which seeks to improve in-home care for older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, thanks to a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award is expected to total approximately $20 million over five years. MassAITC is a collaboration between the Commonwealth’s premier institutions of education and health—including UMass Amherst, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brandeis University and Northeastern University. The center will be housed at UMass Amherst and will leverage extensive expertise, access to patient cohorts and resources of the other partner institutions from around Massachusetts. It is co-led by Deepak Ganesan,…

Continue ReadingUMass Amherst, Brigham and Women’s Hospital to Lead New Center on AI, Aging and Alzheimer’s, Funded by $20 Million NIA Grant