The USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) is accepting applications for two 2026–2027 Development Project funding tracks.
Track 1: Traditional Development Project (TDP): One year of funding for new, innovative research that generates preliminary data for future extramural grants.
Track 2: REC Pipeline Development (RPD): Three to six months of funding in two categories:
- RPD-2A: For teams whose NIH application received a favorable score but was not funded, to collect the data needed for a competitive resubmission.
- RPD-2B: For new interdisciplinary collaborations with the ADRC that build the team, methods, and preliminary data for a new NIH proposal.
Research Focus
We invite clinical and basic science proposals that advance understanding of factors that modify the effects of APOE4 on cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. Projects may use basic, clinical, or psychosocial approaches in humans or animal models to inform disease mechanisms, prevention, and treatment of early cognitive impairment. We especially encourage translational and intervention studies, from preclinical models to early-phase trials.
Current Development Project Scholars
PI: Hosung Kim, PhD
MENTOR/SPONSOR: Yaqiong Chai, PhD
ADRC SPONSOR: Helena Chui, MD
ORIENTATION: Translational
One-sentence summary: This project evaluates MRI-derived glymphatic dysfunction as a mechanistic biomarker linking cardiometabolic disease, vascular injury, brain clearance system, amyloid accumulation, and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Kim’s Development Project aims to clarify how vascular and metabolic risk factors contribute to cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology. The project focuses on two closely linked brain systems: the blood-brain barrier, which regulates exchange between the bloodstream and brain tissue, and the glymphatic system, which supports fluid movement and waste clearance in the brain.
Using advanced MRI biomarkers, Dr. Kim and his team are investigating whether cardiometabolic burden, including factors such as blood pressure and obesity, is associated with blood-brain barrier disruption, impaired glymphatic function, and downstream changes in amyloid, tau, and cognition. The long-term goal is to develop imaging-based tools that can help identify biologically meaningful subtypes of vascular cognitive impairment, improve disease staging, and support more personalized approaches to diagnosis, monitoring, and future therapeutic trials.
PI: Kassandra Kisler, PhD
ADRC SPONSOR/COLLABORATOR: Annie Hiniker MD, PhD
ORIENTATION: Basic Science with Translational Relevance
One-sentence summary: This study examines how APOE4 carrier status and vascular PICALM synergistically contribute to cerebral amyloid angiopathy, blood-brain barrier injury, and Alzheimer’s vascular pathology.
This proposal investigates the relationship between two important Alzheimer’s disease risk factors, APOE4 and PICALM, and their combined role in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) and vascular dysfunction. The study will examine whether differences in vascular PICALM expression and specific PICALM genetic variants interact with APOE genotype to effect vascular amyloid deposition and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Aim 1 evaluates whether vascular PICALM expression spatially correlates with CAA burden and BBB permeability in human cortical tissue and whether these relationships differ by APOE genotype. Aim 2 examines whether specific PICALM Alzheimer’s-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) correlate with observed vascular pathology and APOE4 carrier status. This study will provide new information on the interaction of PICALM with APOE on CAA burden and related Alzheimer’s vascular pathologies.
PI: Rijwan Ahammad, PhD
MENTOR/SPONSOR: Robert Rissman, PhD
ORIENTATION: Basic Science
One-sentence summary: This proposal investigates how APOE genotype influences α-synuclein and amyloid-β cross-seeding, neuroinflammation, and cognitive decline in mixed Alzheimer’s and Lewy body pathology.
This project tests whether the APOE4 gene variant worsens interactions between amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein, two disease proteins that often occur together in people with mixed Alzheimer’s and Lewy body pathology. In APOE3 and APOE4 mouse models, the team will examine effects on cognition and behavior, protein clearance, inflammation, and synapses. The work aims to lay the groundwork for larger studies of mixed dementias.
PI: Ciorana Roman Ortiz, PhD
MENTOR: Lindsey Schier, PhD
ADRC SPONSOR: Hussein Yassine, MD
ORIENTATION: Translational / Mechanistic Basic Science
One-sentence summary: This study investigates how the APOE ε4 genotype alters taste system biology in Alzheimer’s disease and whether semaglutide treatment can reverse associated inflammatory and sensory dysfunction.
This project explores whether APOE4 changes taste bud biology in ways that alter nutrient sensing and eating behavior, which may influence Alzheimer’s progression. In APOE4 mice, the team will map inflammatory, structural, and gene-expression changes in taste buds with age, then test whether the GLP-1 drug semaglutide improves taste pathology, blood sugar control, body weight, and eating behavior.
PI: Maryam Fotouhi, MD | Co-Investigator: Abhay Sagare, PhD
FACULTY SPONSOR: Jeiran Choupan, PhD
ADRC SPONSOR: Hussein Yassine, MD
ORIENTATION: Translational
One-sentence summary: This project investigates whether soluble PDGFRβ levels in plasma and CSF can serve as biomarkers of pericyte injury, impaired vascular clearance, and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease.
This project tests whether soluble PDGFRβ, a marker of injury to blood vessel support cells called pericytes, can serve as a biomarker of impaired brain fluid clearance and cognitive decline. Using blood and spinal fluid samples and MRI measures of perivascular spaces from ADNI and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center – Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Decline (ADRC-VCD), the team will examine how PDGFRβ levels relate to brain clearance, APOE4 status, and cognition over time.
PI: Max Thorwald, PhD
ADRC SPONSOR: Hussein Yassine, MD
ORIENTATION: Translational
One-sentence summary: This project investigates whether iron chelation with deferoxamine can reduce ARIA and ferroptotic injury associated with anti-amyloid immunotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease.
Anti-amyloid antibody treatments can cause brain swelling or small bleeds known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA). This project tests the hypothesis that removing amyloid destabilizes blood vessels and releases iron, triggering an iron-driven form of cell death called ferroptosis. Using 7T MRI in mouse models of familial Alzheimer’s disease treated with lecanemab, the team will test whether the iron-binding drug deferoxamine reduces vascular injury and will examine differences between sexes.
2026-27 Timetable
| Before October 13, 2026 | Consult with the ADRC Data Core statistician to ensure the scientific rigor of the proposed study design and statistical methods. For Track 1, also identify the ADRC datasets that align with your project objectives. |
| Monday, October 26, 2026 | Applications due. |
| Monday, November 16, 2026 | Finalists announced |
| Monday, December 14, 2026 | Final proposals due from finalists |
| Monday, January 4, 2027 | Track 2: First payment awarded, pending a satisfactory progress report |
| Monday, March 1, 2027 | Track 1: First payment awarded, pending a satisfactory progress report |