UCSF

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), designed as a naturalistic longitudinal study to develop and validate magnetic resonance, positron emission tomography, cerebrospinal fluid, and genetic biomarkers for use in AD clinical trials, has made many impacts in the decade since its inception. The initial 5-year study, ADNI-1, enrolled cognitively normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD subjects, and the subsequent studies (ADNI-GO and ADNI-2) added early- and late-MCI cohorts. The development of standardized methods allowed comparison of data gathered across multiple sites, and these data are available to qualified researchers without embargo. ADNI data have been used in >600 publications including those describing relationships between biomarkers, improved methods for disease diagnosis and the prediction of future decline, and identifying novel genetic AD risk loci. ADNI has provided a framework for similar initiatives worldwide.