Framingham BRain Imaging, cognition, Dementia and next generation GEnomics (BRIDGET)

The BRIDGET study population comprises six large, richly phenotyped and genotyped prospective cohort studies of middle-aged and older community-dwelling persons: Austrian Stroke Prevention Study [ASPS], Rotterdam Study, Study of Health in Pomerania [SHIP], 3C-Dijon Study, Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 [LBC1936], and Framingham Heart Study (FHS). The FHS is an external partner participating in this project through independent funding. Alzheimer's disease (AD) begins many years before diagnosis and yet its etiology is still poorly understood. The BRIDGET consortium aims to identify genetic variants that are associated with structural brain aging, cognitive performance, and dementia risk in richly phenotyped population-based samples. This work aims to provide crucial information on the molecular pathways leading to AD, potentially leading to improved health outcomes for our aging population. This includes an innovative exploration of lifetime changes in methylation associated with structural brain alterations using a novel bisulfite sequencing technology, to help identify functional and disease relevant variants.