Alzheimer’s Disease Research

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Among the Amish

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Among African American Communities

Collaborating with the Amish Community

Dr. Haines has worked for more than 20 years with the Amish in central Ohio. Because most members of the Amish community do not use phones or email, members of the Haines Lab team meet face-to-face to explain our studies and enroll participants. Analysis of clinical and genetic data has been invaluable in foundational research about this complex, but nevertheless common condition, with heritable as well as environmental and behavioral influences.

Protective Genetic Variants for AD in the Amish

The Haines lab is focused on identifying genetic variants that correlate with protection from AD vs those that correlate with increased risk for AD.

We eventually will follow more than 600 known and newly identified cognitively normal individuals age 75+ along with their 1st and 2nd-degree relatives.

These individuals will be followed for several years, with repeat cognitive/clinical exams and the collection of updated biological specimens (blood and plasma) to track how cognitive function progresses over the years and if there are changes in their genetic profile that may indicate the presence of biomarkers and/or disease progression.