Research Campus starts Alzheimer's project

KANNAPOLIS —Duke University’s medical research study based at the N.C. Research Campus has announced plans for a long-term Alzheimer’s disease prevention study.

The MURDOCK Study in Kannapolis is recruiting older people who do not have memory problems for the new project.

People age 55 and older who have not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and do not have untreated psychiatric conditions, such as serious depression, can sign up. Untreated psychiatric conditions can affect memory.

Called the Memory Health Study, this is the latest project initiated under the umbrella of Duke’s MURDOCK Study at the Research Campus.

The project’s lead researchers are Dr. Kathleen Welsh-Bohmer, professor of psychiatry at Duke University and director of the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Dr. Allen Roses, professor of neurobiology and director of the Deane Drug Discovery Institute.

They are working together to improve Alzheimer’s disease prevention and discovery.

Welsh-Bohmer said by working with the MURDOCK Study team, which has a well-established network of partners and community participants, researchers “have the potential to radically change the game in Alzheimer’s research.”

Volunteers who meet the eligibility criteria for the memory project will join the MURDOCK Study Community Registry and Biorepository. They will contribute basic information about themselves, their medical history and samples of blood and urine.

Additionally, for the purposes of the memory project, enrollment will include tests for vision, speech, thinking, concentration and memory.

A typical visit will take up to 90 minutes.

Individuals who have already joined the MURDOCK Study will not be re-contacted for this new project because of eligibility criteria.

Interested individuals should call the MURDOCK Study office at 704-250-5861 or email murdock-study@duke.edu to schedule a one-time study visit at a location in Kannapolis or Cabarrus County.

More than 170,000 North Carolinians suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Project leaders said they hope by recruiting a cohort of people from the Kannapolis and Cabarrus County region, they will work toward understanding the progression of events leading to Alzheimer’s disease.

The MURDOCK Study is named for David Murdock, billionaire Dole Food Co. chairman who founded the Research Campus and pledged $35 million to Duke University to launch the study.

The name stands for Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease Of Cabarrus/Kannapolis.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.