FORT WORTH, Texas — A North Texas university will receive nearly $150 million in a grant for Alzheimer's research.
The Institute for Translational Research at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth was awarded $148.78 million over a five-year grant, the university announced Monday.
The grant comes from the National Institute on Aging as part of the National Institutes of Health.
The funding will be put toward the "first-ever, large-scale study of the biology of Alzheimer's disease within a health disparities framework" across three racial and ethnic groups: African-American, Mexican-American and white, according to a news release.
"The research will seek to understand the differences in Alzheimer’s disease among these multi-ethnic populations," the release said. "To date, the majority of Alzheimer’s research has focused on non-Latino white populations, yet Mexican Americans will develop the disease an average of 10 years earlier in their lifetimes, according to various studies."
Participants for the study will be selected from the North Texas area, with 1,500 enrollees from each of the three ethnic groups in the study. The study will include amyloid and tau PET scans as researchers study the origins and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Sid O'Bryant, the executive director of the Institute of Translational Research who will be leading the research, said the study is "going to change the world."
“There has never been a large-scale study like this before that will use a health disparities framework in this way," O'Bryant said. "We will comprehensively study the causes and risks of Alzheimer’s disease, including social and cultural factors."
