Newsletter Global Alzheimer's Association Interactive Network
A Message from Director Arthur W. Toga, PhD
Every year, scientists start new studies on Alzheimer’s disease by collecting neuroimaging and clinical data. Often the data is used once for a particular study, then it can be difficult to find again for further use.
The Global Alzheimer’s Association Interactive Network (GAAIN), funded by the Alzheimer’s Association and powered by the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI) at USC, strives to ensure this data is findable and sharable for further use by the scientific community. We support Data Partners in their data sharing requirements and data requesters in their queries, cohort discovery and exploration of data. GAAIN has developed the first and largest operational online integrated research platform, which links scientists, shared data, and sophisticated analysis tools.
We share a common goal: to understand the causes and advance the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. By using GAAIN, you can easily access and integrate data in a safe, secure manner to address questions of unprecedented complexity. By becoming a GAAIN Data Partner, you are uniting with scientists around the globe to build upon each other’s work. Whether you have data to share, or data sets you want to find, we want to collaborate with you for the benefit of all.
GAAIN webinar
Join the GAAIN webinar taking place on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 1 PM (US Eastern) to learn more about how to share data with GAAIN, a live demonstration of the GAAIN Interrogator data exploration tool, and hear from a guest speaker on an example of GAAIN usage.
GAAIN Features
Cohort Discovery
The GAAIN Cohort Scout lets you search through thousands of data attributes collected by GAAIN Data Partners and allows you to build, save, and share cohorts.
Data Visualization
The GAAIN Interrogator lets you visualize relationships between attributes in user-defined, cross-study cohorts.
Support
Looking for help or more detailed information? We happily provide user support. Tutorials are available on the GAAIN YouTube channel or you may request an individual training session by emailing info@gaain.org.
Become a GAAIN partner through our easy online application here.
Recent GAAIN Gains
Research using GAAIN data sets leads to innovation and discovery. Here are just a few recent advances using GAAIN:
- Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) correlated with better cognitive status (Morris et al., 2020).
- According to imaging data, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects with suspected non-amyloid pathology (SNAP) had faster atrophy rates in the frontal cortex than MCI subjects, although there appeared to be no differences in cortical thickness between the two groups after correcting for site-related variations (Rane, AAIC20).
GAAIN supports initiatives that promote data sharing and standardization within the Alzheimer’s disease and dementia research community around the globe. Learn more about the Centiloid Project.
A Word from a GAAIN Collaborator
“GAAIN has been critical to identifying research opportunities in the field of social determinants of late-life cognition and dementia. The platform allowed me to find measurement gaps in studies to assess the effect of social determinants of health in the cognition of people ApoE-e4 allele carriers, as well as discover relevant datasets and studies that are incorporating social factors, biomarkers, and cognition worldwide.” - José M. Aravena, PhD candidate, Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Yale University School of Public Health