Farrer to Lead BUSM Efforts in Multi-Site AD Genomic Center

Farrer, BU Distinguished Professor of Genetics, chief of biomedical genetics, and a BU Alzheimer’s Disease Center faculty member — Lindsay Farrer

A five-year, nearly $10.8 million award from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will establish the Coordinating Center for Genetics and Genomics of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), a collaboration of researchers from six academic institutions including BUSM. Lindsay Farrer, PhD, BU Distinguished Professor of Genetics & Chief, Biomedical Genetics, will lead the NIH-funded center at BUSM.

“The Center will curate, harmonize and analyze clinical information and genetics and genomics data obtained from tens-of-thousands of AD and cognitively normal controls from multiple ethnic backgrounds,” says Farrer. “These efforts will undoubtedly lead to new discoveries that will help us understand the mechanisms leading to AD.”

The Center, which will be based at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will act as a national clearinghouse for AD genomics information. By coordinating the identification of Alzheimer’s related genes, the Center hopes to find new therapeutic targets of the disease.