Biomarkers for Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Consortium

Biomarkers for Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (MarkVCID) is an NIH-funded consortium dedicated to finding biomarkers involved in age-related thinking and memory problems. Alzheimer's disease and other dementias leave signatures on brain scans or in the blood called biomarkers. The MarkVCID study will measure a panel of candidate biomarkers in 1800 participants and watch them closely to see what they tell us about changes in brain function and risk of memory loss. Age-related problems in thinking and memory represent some of the greatest risks to public health in the US and globally. Diseases that affect small blood vessels in the brain have been shown to be major contributors to these changes. However, research and patient care can be held back by limited biomarkers that identify who should be treated. The MarkVCID Consortium includes 17 US medical centers, a Coordinating Center, an External Advisory Committee, and NIH leadership. Data and biospecimens collected as part of this research study will be stored in a research database and biorepositories, so that researchers can use this information to study brain function.