Thomas McDade and Aaron Miller awarded NIH research grant
September 18, 2026
Thomas McDade and Aaron Miller have been awarded an NIH research grant for their research, titled "Advancing population-based research on cognitive aging and dementia with minimally-invasive methods for quantifying biomarkers of neurocognitive function."
Project summary:
More than 6 million Americans currently live with Alzheimer’s Disease. The annual cost of care for Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD) exceeds $300 billion and is projected to surpass $1 trillion by 2050. Addressing this emerging public health crisis requires a deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to brain aging in order to reduce the human and financial costs of ADRD. Biomarkers of neurodegenerative processes can be measured in peripheral blood samples to identify risk for ADRD before the onset of clinical disease, but collection of these samples is limited to clinical settings where it is possible to draw venous blood. Methods for measuring ADRD biomarkers in non-clinical settings are needed to support new research on the genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that increase risk for dementia. This project will validate methods for quantifying ADRD biomarkers in a few drops of capillary blood as a low-cost, scalable approach to advancing research on cognitive aging and brain health in non-clinical settings. Dried blood spots (DBS)— drops of whole blood collected on filter paper following a simple finger stick—represent a minimally-invasive alternative to venous blood collection that is widely used in population-based and epidemiological studies. The paper dries and preserves the sample and reduces costs of collection, processing, and shipping. The project’s first aim involves optimizing laboratory assays that will accurately and reliably measure the following ADRD biomarkers in DBS: neurofilament light chain, glial fibrillary acidic protein, amyloid 𝛽𝛽 42/40, and Tau proteins (total, pTau181, pTau217). Each assay will be evaluated for precision, reliability, accuracy, lower limit of detection, as well as potential sources of pre-analytic variation, including sample volume, drying conditions, and stability during transport and storage. The second aim will test assay performance in capillary blood samples collected with devices that are designed for self-collection in the home. The third aim will analyze agreement in results between serum samples and matched DBS samples to provide information on assay accuracy and validity, and to generate formulas for conversion of results across sample types. New methods for measuring ADRD biomarkers in small volumes of capillary blood that reduce the costs, sample processing requirements, and cold chain logistics of venipuncture will have a major impact.