Combined magnetic resonance imaging and genetic risks to enhance early detection of dementia Lead Investigator: Chun Fan Institution : Multimodal Imaging Services Corporation E-Mail : cfan@mmisco.com Proposal ID : 1051 Proposal Description: Early detection for the pathological changes of dementia prior to full-blown diseases is a crucial step for advancing biomedical research on dementia. Genetics and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have separately shown some promising results in terms of predicting the disease onset. However, it is unclear what is the best strategy to combine both into one single framework for risk prediction. Considering genetic profile characterizes an individual?s longitudinal traits while MRI shows the current state of brain condition, they are complementary with each other yet with substantial overlapping. In our proposal, we aim to model the normative and disease-etiological processes of MRI measurements based on genetically available information. We expect the model to enable us to detect any meaningful deviations from the expected norms, providing the time-dependent risks for dementia given individual?s genes and MRI measurements. The clinical validity of the model will be examined in both within-study cross-validation and associations with other biomarkers, including cognitive measurements.