NIA Genetics of Alzheimer's Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) Cloud-Based Platform

NIA Genetics of Alzheimer's Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) Cloud-Based Platform is sponsored by National Institute on Aging (NIA). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

NIAGADS was established in 2012 as a cooperative agreement between the NIA and the University of Pennsylvania to ensure qualified researchers could access the genotypic data being generated as part of the NIA’s Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Portfolio.

As such, NIAGADS is hosted at the University of Pennsylvania and works collaboratively with researchers all over the world to facilitate access and share genomic and associated omics data related to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) as well as healthy aging.

NIAGADS was established with 3 missions in mind: Over the last 10+ years, NIAGADS has developed its own data access request process in alignment with NIH policies and has worked to make AD/ADRD data accessible outside of the data access request process where possible (in alignments with submitting institutional IRB guidance on appropriate sharing), culminating in the NIAGADS Open Access platform, a suite of knowledgebases, data exploration modalities, and datasets available to the public.

NIAGADS Structure and Timeline In addition to its data related activities, NIAGADS also serves as a key knowledge partner for the research community by assisting in grant preparation through letter of recommendation, helping to develop data sharing plans, directing researchers to other relevant repositories, and providing expertise in technical support and data analysis and interpretation of genomic datasets housed at NIAGADS.

Data Access Requests (DAR) Supported by a talented and dedicated team of developers, data analysts, researchers, and project managers NIAGADS is committed to helping their user base to identify datasets, access stored data, and share resulting data with the research community to advance the understanding of ADRD.

Data Coordination Center for the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project NIAGADS proudly serves as the data coordinating center for the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP). The ADSP is a groundbreaking initiative that brings together researchers from across the globe to identify genetic variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

As the data coordinating center, NIAGADS manages the collection, storage, and distribution of large-scale sequencing data generated by ADSP, ensuring that the data is readily available to the scientific community.

Our role includes supporting data integration, quality control, and facilitating collaborations to drive progress in the discovery of genetic markers that can inform the development of targeted treatments and prevention strategies. Since its inception, NIAGADS has played a pivotal role in numerous groundbreaking studies exploring the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s disease.

By enabling researchers to leverage large-scale genetic data, including the ADSP datasets, NIAGADS has contributed to the identification of novel genetic variants associated with disease risk and progression, paving the way for targeted therapeutic strategies. NIAGADS is a NIA designated repository for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) genetics and genomics data.

We meet the requirements for a repository as specified in the NIH DMS Policy. NIAGADS is supported by an NIH/NIA collaborative agreement (U24-AG041689).