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Best Practices for Reporting Preclinical Studies

Literature Supporting Reproducibility – Articles supporting the need for transparency, reproducibility, and translation in preclinical efficacy. 

ARRIVE Guidelines  – The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) are a checklist of information to include in publications describing animal research.

FAIR Principles – Guidelines to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets.

NIH ACD Working Group on Enhancing Rigor, Transparency and Translatability in Animal Research – The ACD Working Group is charged with assessing and making recommendations to enhance the rigor, transparency, and translatability in animal research by improving experimental design, optimizing translational validity, enhancing training, and increasing the transparency of research studies involving animal models. 

NIH Rigor and Reproducibility Training Modules – NIH training modules for enhancing reproducibility through rigor and transparency.

NIH Policy & Compliance: Resources for Preparing a Rigorous Grant Application – The information provided on this website is designed to assist the research community in addressing rigor and transparency in NIH grant applications.

NIH Workshop on Principles and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research – The workshop focused on identifying the common opportunities in the scientific publishing arena to enhance rigor and further support research that is reproducible, robust, and transparent.

NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science – Describes NIH’s overarching goals, strategic objectives, and implementation tactics for modernizing the NIH-funded biomedical data-resource ecosystem.

NINDS Office of Research Quality – dedicated to promoting experimental and analytical rigor, measures to reduce bias, transparent reporting, high-quality scientific research.

NIH Preprint Pilot – The NIH Preprint Pilot is a project of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). During the pilot, NLM will make preprints resulting from research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) available via PubMed Central (PMC) and, by extension, PubMed.

Workshop on Principles and Techniques for Improving Preclinical to Clinical Translation in Alzheimer’s Disease Research – Immersion workshop focusing on the improvement of preclinical translation in Alzheimer’s disease research.

G*Power – G*Power is a tool to compute statistical power analyses for many different t tests, F tests, χ2 tests, z tests and some exact tests. G*Power can also be used to compute effect sizes and to display graphically the results of power analyses.

Global Preclinical Data Forum – Jointly sponsored US and European initiative that encourages global collaboration to address the challenge of ensuring that preclinical research is reproducible, robust and translatable.

Center for Open Science (COS) – The COS supports open science and is missioned to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research.

COS Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines – The TOP guidelines eight modular standards, each with three levels of increasing stringency.

Open Research Funders Group – A partnership of philanthropic organizations committed to the open sharing of research outputs and other forms of scholarship.

National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) – A UK-based scientific organization dedicated to helping the global research community to identify, develop and use the 3Rs technologies and approaches.

NC3Rs Experimental Design Assistant (EDA) – A free resource to help design robust experiments more likely to yield reliable and reproducible results.

NAS Workshop on Reproducibility Issues in Research with Animals and Animal Models – The workshop includes perspectives on improving experimental planning, design and execution.

C4R Community for Rigor – Open resource to help researchers learn, practice, and promote scientific rigor. 

SfN Foundations of Rigorous Neuroscience Research – Multimodal training program aiming to inform and empower neuroscientists at all career stages to enhance the rigor and reproducibility of their research.

 

NIA Translational Research Resources

AD Knowledge Portal – This knowledgebase contains Alzheimer’s disease data, analyses, and tools from the NIA’s Alzheimer’s disease Translational Research Program.

Accelerating Medicines Partnership Program for Alzheimer’s Disease (AMP-AD) – AMP-AD is a precompetitive partnership among government, industry and non-profit organizations to transform the current model for developing new diagnostics and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

Model Organism Development and Evaluation for Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease (MODEL-AD) – MODEL-AD is a consortium established by the NIA to develop and characterize the next generation of in vivo AD models based on human data.

Screening the Optimal Pharmaceutical for Alzheimer’s Disease (STOP-AD) – STOP-AD is a program that offers preclinical screening of compounds through the MODEL-AD Preclinical Testing Core (Slide Deck).

Target Enablement to Accelerate Therapy Development for AD (TREAT-AD) – The TREAT-AD research centers aim to diversify and reinvigorate the AD drug development pipeline.

Generation, Characterization, and Validation of Marmoset Models of Alzheimer's Disease (MARMO-AD) – The MARMO-AD consortium is developing marmoset models to fill the mouse-human translational gap and enable detailed studies of the underlying biological mechanisms of AD.

The NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research – A collaborative framework that includes the NIH Office of the Director and 12 NIH Institutes and Centers that support research on the nervous system.

Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) for Small Molecules  The BPN provides non-dilutive funding for small molecule drug discovery and development, from hit-to-lead chemistry through phase I clinical testing.

Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network for Biologics (BPN-Biologics)  BPN-Biologics provides non-dilutive funding and resources for biotherapeutic drug discovery and development, from lead optimization through phase I clinical testing.

NIA Training and Career Development – NIA supports a variety of training and career development opportunities for students, early-career investigators, and clinician-researchers.

 

NIH Alzheimer's Disease Research Summits

NIH Alzheimer’s Research Summits are key strategic planning meetings tied to the implementation of the first goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s (NAPA): to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease by 2025.

NIA Strategic Directions for Research – Outlines NIA’s broad strategic directions and provides a point of reference for setting priorities and a framework for systematically analyzing the Institute’s scientific portfolio and assessing progress.

NIA AD+ADRD Research Implementation Milestones – Browse this database to learn about research implementation plans and progress toward the goal of effectively treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias by 2025.

2021 NIH Alzheimer’s Research Summit: Path to Precision Medicine for Treatment and Prevention.

2018 NIH Alzheimer’s Research Summit: Path to Treatment and Prevention.

2015 NIH Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summit: Path to Treatment and Prevention.

2012 NIH Alzheimer’s Disease Research Summit: Path to Treatment and Prevention.

 

Animal Models

MODEL-AD Mouse Models – 66 new mouse models for Late Onset Alzheimer’s Disease (LOAD) have been developed and characterized by the MODEL-AD consortium.

MODEL-AD Explorer – Explore gene expression and pathology data from next generation mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease developed by the MODEL-AD consortium.

ALZFORUM Research Models – This database provides information about selected rodent models of neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS.

Mouse Models of Alzheimer’s Disease at the Jackson Laboratory – Access the most cutting-edge models for Alzheimer’s disease.

Mouse Phenome Database at the Jackson Laboratory – This is an integrated resource to explore physiology and behavior through genetics and genomics.

Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) – MGI is the international database resource for the laboratory mouse, providing integrated genetic, genomic, and biological data to facilitate the study of human health and disease.

Mouse Models of Alzheimer’s Disease at Charles River – Access transgenic mouse models, aged rodent models, and amnesia models which display Alzheimer’s-associated pathology.

Climb – Research management software designed for high throughput in vivo research.

MouseBytes – Open access database for mouse cognition, imaging, and genomics data integration.

International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IPMC) – The IPMC is an international effort by 21 research institutions to identify the function of every protein-coding gene in the mouse genome.

International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR) – The IMSR is a searchable database of mouse strains, stocks, and mutant embryonic stem cell lines available worldwide.

Rat Genome Database (RGD) – The RGD is a repository of rat genomic and genetic data.

National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs) – The centers focus on building a sustainable supply of nonhuman primates to support health-related research, which include behavioral biology, reproductive biology and respiratory diseases.

Worldwide Primates Inc. – Supplier of non-human primate models for research, including government, university, and pharmaceutical level facilities.

AlphaGenesis Inc. – AGI specializes in providing specific-pathogen-free (SPF) nonhuman primate models to the biomedical research community.

 

Therapeutic Agents & Targets

Agora – This database contains a list of over 600 nascent drug targets for Alzheimer’s disease that were nominated by researchers. Agora hosts evidence for whether or not genes are associated with Alzheimer’s.

AD Informer Set – This is a physical set of high-quality compounds that modulate novel Alzheimer’s disease targets nominated by researchers from the AMP-AD and TREAT-AD consortia. The compound set is distributed with associated data to the scientific community at large to qualify assays, interrogate target validity in Alzheimer’s disease models, and to provide positive controls to aid in the discovery of new chemical entities.

Target Enabling Resources – These resources include high quality research tools and technologies developed by the TREAT-AD consortium to validate and advance the next generation of drug targets for Alzheimer’s disease.

ALZFORUM Therapeutics – This database provides a catalog of therapeutics currently or previously tested as treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

Open Targets – A freely available, comprehensive, and open source tool that aggregates multiple public data sources to help identify and prioritize potential therapeutic drug targets for further investigation.

Pharos – This is a comprehensive, integrated knowledgebase for the Druggable Genome (DG).

DrugBank – This is a comprehensive database containing information on drugs and drug targets.

 

Biomarkers

Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) – ADNI is a longitudinal multicenter study designed to develop clinical, imaging, genetic and biochemical biomarkers for early detection and tracking of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Consortium-Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) – The ABC-DS project is a large research initiative to find biomarkers to track Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down Syndrome.

ALZBIOMARKER – This database organizes decades of data on fluid biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.

AD Atlas – This is a network-based data integration resource for investigating Alzheimer’s disease, its biomarkers, and associated endophenotypes in a multi-omics context.

Global Biomarker Standardization Consortium (GBSC) – Established by the Alzheimer’s Association to achieve consensus on the best ways to standardize and validate biomarker tests for use in global clinical practice.

 

Patents

Espacenet – This resource contains data on more than 130 million patent documents from around the world.

Free Patents Online – Search engine for full texts of patents from around the world.

Google Patents – Search engine for full texts of patents from around the world.

The Lens – Contains discovery and analytics tools on a comprehensive collection of patent literature with citation indexing.

United States Patent and Trademark Office – USPTO is the federal agency for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks.

 

Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacology

ChEMBL – Curated database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties. It brings together chemical, bioactivity and genomic data to aid the translation of genomic information into effective new drugs.

ChemSpider – Free chemical structure database providing fast text and structure search access to over 100 million structures from hundreds of data sources.

PubChem – Largest collection of freely accessible chemical information, molecular formula, structure, and other identifiers.

CompTox Chemicals Dashboard – Widely used resource for chemistry, toxicity, and exposure information for chemicals.

 

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov – Database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world.

Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) – The ACTC provides an infrastructure that uses centralized resources and shared expertise to accelerate the development of effective interventions for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD).

NIA-funded Active Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Clinical Trials and Studies – The NIA is currently supporting 442 active clinical trials on Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) – The ADCS is a major initiative for Alzheimer’s disease clinical studies, addressing treatments for both cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) – The NIA funds 33 ADRCs at major medical institutions across the United States. ADRCs aim to translate research advances into improved diagnosis and care for people with Alzheimer's disease, as well as working to find a treatment or way to prevent Alzheimer's and other types of dementia.

NIA Clinical Research Study Investigator’s Toolbox – The Toolbox is an informational repository for investigators involved in clinical research.

Webinar Transcript: Draft Guidance For Industry On Alzheimer’s Disease: Developing Drugs For The Treatment Of Early Stage Disease – Transcript for FDA Webinar.

 

Research Resources & Data Repositories

International Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Research Portfolio (IADRP) – This database brings together funded research supported by public and private organizations both in the US and abroad all categorized using the Common Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Research Ontology (CADRO).

Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) – The ADGC conducts genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify genes associated with an increased risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD).

National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) – NACC maintains a large relational database of standardized clinical and neuropathological research data from Alzheimer’s Disease Centers across the United States.

National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (NCRAD) – NCRAD is a national resource where clinical information and biological materials, such as DNA, plasma, serum, RNA, CSF, cell lines and brain tissue can be stored and requested.

Standardized Centralized Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias Neuroimaging (SCAN) – SCAN promotes standardization of PET and MR image acquisition.

Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) – Large scale sequencing project to identify Alzheimer’s risk and protective gene variants.

NIA Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) – NIAGADS, along with a number of NIH initiatives, ensures that genotypic data for the study of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias is harmonized and shared with the research community at large.

ALZFORUM – News website and information resource dedicated to helping researchers accelerate discovery and advance development of diagnostics and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.

Laboratory of Neuroimaging (LONI) Image and Data ArchiveA secure online resource for sharing, visualizing, and exploring neuroscience data.

Connectivity Map (CMap) – CMap is a collection of genome-wide transcriptional expression data from cultured human cells treated with bioactive small molecules and simple pattern-matching algorithms that together enable the discovery of functional connections between drugs, genes, and diseases.

iPSC Neurodegenerative Disease Initiative (iNDI) – In partnership with the iPSC Neurodegenerative Disease Initiative, a project from the Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (NIH), and with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, The Jackson Laboratory now offers a catalog of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (ADRDs), ALS, and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Seattle Alzheimer’s Disease Brain Cell Atlas (SEA-AD) – This web product is a multifaceted open data resource, allowing the exploration of single cell transcriptomic and epigenomic data in the context of quantitative neuropathology and deep clinical phenotyping from an aged cohort of donors spanning the full spectrum of AD severity.

PRECISE-TBI – Elevating rigor, reproducibility, Transparency and translation in TBI Research.

Comparative Toxicogenomics Database – Publicly available database that aims to advance understanding about how environmental exposures affect human health.

The Gene Ontology Resource – Largest source of information on the functions of genes.

KEGG Pathway Database – Wiring diagrams of molecular interactions, reactions, and relations.

PhenX Toolkit – Catalog of recommended, standard measures of phenotypes and environmental exposures for use in biomedical research.

STAR Protocols – Open access peer-reviewed protocol journal from Cell Press that publishes step-by-step experimental and computational protocols from all areas of life, health, earth, and physical sciences. 

The Human Protein Atlas – Open access resource that maps all the human proteins in cells, tissues, and organs using an integration of various omics technologies, including antibody-based imaging, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, transcriptomics, and systems biology.

Research Resource Identification Portal – The Resource Identification Portal was created in support of the Resource Identification Initiative, which aims to promote research resource identification, discovery, and reuse. The portal offers a central location for obtaining and exploring Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) - persistent and unique identifiers for referencing a research resource.

 

Literature Indexes

PubMed – Citations to life science and biomedical literature.

EMBASE – Biomedical literature database.

 

Text Mining Resources

OntoMate – A text mining tool aiding curation at the Rat Genome Database.

PhenoMiner – Text-data mining of phenotype relations from biomedical literatures.

PubTator – Web-based system providing automatic annotations of biomedical concepts in PubMed abstracts and PMC full-text articles.