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How does the environment we live in affect our risk for Alzheimers disease? Understanding the neighborhood exposome

Award Number: F31AG096862
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 12/26/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/25/2027

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How does the environment we live in affect our risk for Alzheimers disease? Understanding the neighborhood exposome - PROJECT SUMMARY Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of death and represents a growing burden as lifespans increase. While much of AD prevention research has focused on individual-level risk factors, this approach relies on individual behavioral change without considering the larger environmental and social context that may impede individual people’s ability to enact lifestyle changes and does not consider to what extent individual modifications could mitigate risk in the face of hazardous environmental and psychosocial factors outside an individual’s control. Thus, population-level preventive measures are urgently needed to address the burden of AD. Furthermore, there is a need to better understand early indicators along the etiological pathway to AD. We will leverage data from the Emory Healthy Brain Study (EHBS), a prospective cohort of cognitively health adults between the ages of 50 to 75, in order to examine the association between neighborhood-level environmental (such as fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) air pollution) and social exposures (such as percentage of unemployment in a community), defined as the neighborhood exposome, and memory performance, an early indicator of AD, as well as investigate depressive symptoms and white matter burden as mediators of this relationship. In AIM 1, we will utilize novel environmental mixture methodology to evaluate the complex relationship between the neighborhood exposome, white matter burden and memory performance, including identifying exposure patterns, overall mixture effects, and critical “bad actors” that drive observed associations. In AIM 2, we will investigate the association between the neighborhood exposome and depressive symptoms, and the consequences for memory performance. For both aims, we will also additionally conduct analyses to assess for effect modification by diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and sleep to better understand to what extent these individual lifestyle factors may buffer against environmental insults, and, conversely, which subgroups may be more vulnerable to negative environmental and social exposures in their environment. We hypothesize that the neighborhood exposome will be associated with memory performance and that white matter burden and depressive symptoms will both partially mediate this relationship. Our findings will help advance our understanding of how the neighborhood exposome is associated with AD risk beyond individual-level risk factors and lay the groundwork for development of population-level preventive measures for AD to reduce the large burden imposed by AD.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $50,114 )
2026	2026	EMORY UNIVERSITY	201 DOWMAN DR NE	ATLANTA	GA	30322	DEKALB	USA	Aging Research	000	1	6/30/2026	NEW	$50,114
														Subtotal = $50,114

Grand Total All Awards = $50,114

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How does the environment we live in affect our risk for Alzheimers disease? Understanding the neighborhood exposome

Award Number: F31AG096862

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 12/26/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/25/2027

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