Aging, Dementia and TBI Study
Contact Us
About The Aging, Dementia and TBI Study

Aging, Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Study

The Aging, Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Study is a detailed neuropathologic, molecular and transcriptomic characterization of brains of control and TBI exposure cases from a unique aged population-based cohort from the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study.

Consortium Members

The Aging, Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Study was developed by a consortium consisting of the University of Washington, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute and the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

Funding Support

The study was supported by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation (PIs: Richard Ellenbogen and C. Dirk Keene, University of Washington; PI: Eric Larson, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute; and PI: Ed Lein, Allen Institute for Brain Science).

Additional Data in the ACT Study and How to Access It

The ACT study is a longitudinal population-based prospective cohort study of brain aging and incident dementia in the Seattle metropolitan area. ACT is a repository at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, which has established policies and procedures for sharing data with external investigators. Data available from this study web site do not require any additional Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or permissions. Linking those data with other ACT study or Kaiser Permanente Washington data would require additional review. All of those steps are initiated after contacting KPWA.actproposals@kp.org.

Data Overview

The Aging, Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Study includes the following data sets:

  • Histology and immunohistochemistry (IHC): Image data and quantitative image metrics to assess β-amyloid, tau, and α-synuclein pathologies as well as the overall local pathological state of tissue samples from each donor.

  • In situ hybridization (ISH): High-resolution ISH image data of six canonical marker genes for astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and neuronal subtypes in parietal cortex, temporal cortex, and hippocampus.

  • RNA-Seq: RNA sequencing data for temporal cortex, parietal cortex, cortical white matter, and hippocampus isolated by macrodissection.

  • Protein quantification by Luminex: Luminex assays to assess protein levels of neuropathological and immune system targets, complementing measurements from traditional antibody-based (IHC) methods.

  • Isoprostane quantification: Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) quantitation of isoprostanes to measure oxidative stress and to assess free radical injury.

  • Specimen metadata: De-identified clinical data (including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and TBI diagnoses) for each case.