Our Motivation and Approach

Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias are the most common neurodegenerative disease in the US, affecting more than 35% of people aged 85 and older. To date, there is no cure, and currently available drugs have only a marginal and temporary effect on disease progression and severity.

Members of the CADRE team have dedicated their careers to finding the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias, along with other conditions related to aging.  

All of us know the devastating consequences of this disease and feel a pressing need to accelerate the work. Through the CADRE initiative, we are building on the last three decades of research by applying analysis techniques we have developed to assess massive genomic data sets. This scale will advance our efforts to identify additional genetic variants, how they interact with defined variants, and how they all correlate to disease – or offer protection from disease – as well as the proteins and biological mechanisms they influence. 

Our ultimate goal is to identify targets for effective treatments or prevention.  

Nearly 30 years ago, the first key genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease were discovered through analyses of affected families. Since then, multiple additional genetic variants have been discovered, but the majority of these studies have been conducted with non-Hispanic white individuals. We are just beginning to understand how genetic risk for the disease changes for individuals with different ancestry and heritage. For example, we know that a key genetic risk factor identified in non-Hispanic whites – APOE – correlates to lower risk in populations with African ancestry.  

The CADRE team will expand our understanding of the genetic basis of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, with a commitment to including populations that historically have been underrepresented in large-scale genetic research.