The National Institute on Aging Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) has received a five-year grant renewal totaling up to $23.9 million to continue their work. NIAGADS is a genetics data repository set up by the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to facilitate access by qualified investigators to genotypic data for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). NIAGADS is led by Li-San Wang, PhD, Co-Director of the Penn Neurodegeneration Genomics Center (PNGC) and a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine.

NIAGADS currently houses 84 data sets from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing, and other genomic data types made up of more than 113,000 samples. The site is also the data coordinating center for Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP), a key initiative to meet goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease (NAPA). ADSP plans to sequence and analyze 80,000 genomes from multi-ethnic populations by 2023 in order to find novel genetic variants modulating AD risk. During the next five-year funding period, NIAGADS will establish ADSP as a rich, lasting AD genetics and genomics resource and facilitate use of this resource by researchers to a deeper understanding of AD and discovery of new approaches for treatment and prevention.

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