The webinar touched on the past, present and future of Alzheimer’s disease research as well as information about care and medications. Following the presentation, Golde and DeKosky spent 45 minutes answering questions from attendees.

Those who treat patients with Alzheimer’s say that the tests need only a bit higher level of accuracy before they can be used clinically, which could be in two to three years. This breakthrough could perhaps allow doctors to not only identify symptomatic patients with the disease, but also to identify people with no symptoms who are at risk of developing the disease, and thus begin interventions.

In the first funding cycle from 2015 to 2020, about 60 percent of the 1Florida ADRC’s research participants were Hispanic, a factor that distinguishes the 1Florida ADRC from the more than 30 other such centers in the country, said Todd Golde, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the 1Florida ADRC and director of UF’s Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute. The vast majority of published data on Alzheimer’s disease has studied white people of European ancestry, a factor that could inaccurately skew conclusions about incidence, progression and risk factors, he said.