Exposomic Contributions to ADRD Pathology and Resilience
This grant supports research on how combinations of environmental and lifestyle exposures affect Alzheimer’s-related dementia risk, progression, and resilience through neural mechanisms, with a focus on lifespan and health disparities.
Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates (Anticipated): October 2026 (Full application deadline, projected)
Funding Amounts: Not yet announced; typical NIH R01 mechanism expected.
Summary: Supports research on how neural exposome factors contribute to Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (ADRD) pathology and resilience.
Key Information: This is a forecasted opportunity; NIH-defined clinical trials are not supported.
Description
This upcoming NIH funding opportunity will support research investigating how specific neural exposome factors—such as environmental toxins, sleep and circadian rhythms, stress, and their real-world modulators (light, noise, heat)—mechanistically contribute to the pathology and resilience of Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (ADRD). Projects should focus on the synergistic and composite effects of multiple exposome factors on neural mechanisms relevant to ADRD.
Research is encouraged on mechanistic pathways including, but not limited to, microbiome–brain interactions, neuroimmune signaling, and epigenetic modifications that link exposures to ADRD risk, progression, and resilience. Studies spanning the lifespan and examining critical or sensitive periods of exposure, as well as factors leading to neurological health disparities, are encouraged. Both mechanistic and translational research, including human subjects studies (excluding NIH-defined clinical trials), are eligible.
Investigative teams with expertise in exposomics, environmental neuroscience, ADRD mechanisms, community engagement, and social determinants of health are particularly encouraged to prepare applications.
