The National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) has been awarded a research resource grant of $334,446 from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to support the development of the Ocular Tissue Resource for Alzheimer’s Disease (OTRAD). While significant advances continue to be made with the identification of blood-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is an emergent interest in the use of ocular imaging or other ocular biomarkers as a parallel approach in early detection of the disease.

To support the development of ocular-based methodologies, the OTRAD will provide ocular biospecimens from post mortem AD donors, as well as non-diseased control donors to investigators studying ocular pathogenesis in AD.

“As the number of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease continues to grow exponentially, resources for research will critical to advance understanding,” said Bill Leinweber, President, and CEO of NDRI. “Expansion our work to provide urgently needed ocular human tissue to advance neurological research is at the core of NDRI’s mission.”

The OTRAD grant is an Administrative Supplement to a current five-year $6.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded to fund NDRI’s Human Tissues and Organs Research Resource (HTORR) program. The NIH has continuously funded the HTORR parent grant for over 30 consecutive years to support research programs across multiple disciplines. Through the HTORR program, NDRI provides biomedical investigators with donated normal and diseased human biospecimens from all body systems using customized procurement, processing, preservation, and distribution protocols.

“It is indeed a privilege for NDRI to be awarded support from the NIH to further leverage the impact of our longstanding efforts to support investigators with the biospecimens needed to advance discovery for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Mary Hendrix, PhD, President of Shepherd University and Chair of the NDRI Board of Directors.

About NDRI

The National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) is the nation’s leading source of human tissues, cells and organs for scientific research. A not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) organization founded in 1980, NDRI is funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, public and private foundations and organizations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations. NDRI is a 24/7 operation that partners with a nationwide network of over 130 tissue source sites (TSS), including organ procurement organizations (OPOs), tissue banks, eye banks, and hospitals. The TSS, are distributed throughout the USA, in 45 states, with concentrations in major metropolitan areas on both the east and west coasts. Their wide geographic distribution allows NDRI to provide biospecimens from donor populations with diverse demographics and also facilitates the timely and efficient provision of fresh tissues directly to researchers across the U.S. and around the world. By serving as the liaison between procurement sources and the research community, NDRI is uniquely positioned to support breakthrough advances and discoveries that can affect advances in the treatment and cure of human diseases.

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