|
|
|
|
A note from Niranjan Bose, Executive Director of AD Data Initiative
|
In 2026, new tools and technologies are continuing to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery. Whether it’s diagnosing Alzheimer’s with a finger-prick blood test or through AI-enabled speech analysis, every month seems to bring a thrilling breakthrough that could reduce the burdens of this terrible disease. And with researchers all over the world working together and sharing data and insights as never before, our field has been infused with a collaborative spirit that brings us closer than ever to the end of Alzheimer’s.
All these trends were on full display at this month’s AD/PD Conference in Copenhagen, where we hosted Alzheimer’s Insights Summit 3. We heard about breakthrough science on biomarkers and disease progression. We took part in passionate and energizing conversations about agentic AI, sex and gender differences in neurodegeneration, and the future of data sharing. We held productive meetings with both current and future partners, and we saw several insightful demos at our coalition’s booth. A great week all around!
Perhaps the most exciting part of our summit was the announcement of our Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize winners. Because the entries were so impressive and thoughtful across the board, our judges ultimately decided to double the prize and award $1 million each to two finalists: Biomni-AD and Prima Mente. We are excited to continue working with all the finalists and semi-finalists to bring their ideas and analytic tools into AD Workbench.
We believe AI tools will clearly augment and accelerate neurodegenerative research, so we have also developed a new AI strategy to ensure more scientists can take advantage of these amazing tools going forward. Soon, AD Workbench users will be able to produce, train, and fine-tune ML models on our hosted datasets, with no data ever leaving the security of our research environment. These AI-powered enhancements will be guided by our new Chief Product and Technology Officer, Rama Ramani, who we are delighted to have join us, and will balance innovation with security, trustworthiness, and full compliance.
Working together over the last half-decade, our coalition built a robust foundation for innovative research collaboration. It is so inspiring to see these efforts take flight. In 2026, we will build on this momentum by adding new tools for ADRD discovery, forming stronger partnerships with top research institutions, and continuing to expand AD Workbench to make it as useful as possible as a hub for groundbreaking Alzheimer’s science.
Thank you for joining us on this wonderful journey.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Niranjan Bose
Interim Executive Director
Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative
P.S. If you know someone who would like to learn more about our work, please share this newsletter, and invite them to visit our website.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ANNOUNCEMENTS
|
Alzheimer's Insights Summit 3: On March 17, alongside AD/PD 2026 in Copenhagen, the AD Data Initiative co-hosted the Alzheimer's Insights Summit 3 with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation. It fostered many fascinating conversations on emerging biomarkers, shared data, inclusive research design, and AI-enabled approaches to Alzheimer’s research. Go here to watch the Summit keynote by Dr. Henrik Zetterberg, a world expert on fluid biomarker development for Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders.
Alzheimer's Insights AI Prize Winners: As part of the Summit, two teams were chosen as winners of the $1 million Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize: Biomni-AD (Stanford University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) and Prima Mente.
- Biomni-AD's winning solution, an open-source, AI-powered “co-scientist” built for Alzheimer’s research, uses agentic AI to perform normally time-consuming research tasks in minutes with a higher level of accuracy than general AI models. When given a research query in plain English, this AI tool first builds out a full research plan that scientists can approve or modify. It then executes that plan step-by-step in a transparent, reproducible, and auditable fashion: showing its work along the way, both flagging and fixing potential data entry errors, and creating publication-ready graphs and summaries that can be independently verified. [Watch Biomni-AD's winning pitch here.]
- Prima Mente’s winning solution, PARTHENON, is an integrated modeling and discovery platform that acts as a virtual “wet lab” – enabling researchers to model experiments using virtual cells with the support of “Athena,” an AI co-scientist. This compresses work that normally takes weeks into minutes. The platform aims to build a global lab for Alzheimer’s research by democratizing both model training and hypothesis generation. [Watch Prima Mente’s winning pitch here.]
Both winning teams’ tools will be made available to all researchers worldwide for free through AD Workbench. In addition, we are working with the other finalist and semi-finalist teams via “Collaboratories” to foster idea exchange, accelerate development of their AI-powered research tools, and bring their highly impressive tools to AD Workbench as well.
|
|
The Alzheimer's Insights AI Prize finalist teams at the Alzheimer's Insights AI Summit
|
|
The winning teams of the $1M Alzheimer's Insights AI Prize: Prima Mente and Biomni-AD
|
ADDF's Diagnostic Accelerator 3.0: Also in Copenhagen, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation announced the launch of the third phase of its Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA 3.0). Backed by an additional $50 million in funding (bringing the initiative’s total to $150 million), this next phase will focus on next-gen biomarkers to accelerate drug development, enable combination therapies, and advance precision medicine for Alzheimer's patients.
|
GNPC Data Challenge Update: Submissions for our most recent data challenge, which encouraged ADRD researchers to engage with the world’s largest proteomics dataset for neurodegenerative diseases, have concluded and are now being evaluated. Following the launch of the challenge on October 15, we received submissions from researchers around the world, including Australia, Korea, the UK, and the US. We look forward to announcing the winners and sharing their findings with the community.
|
NULISA NeuroData Commons: Building on the success of GNPC, this new proteomics consortium is focused specifically on the ultrasensitive, targeted NULISA CNS assay, for which >30 global cohorts and >40,000 biosamples have been committed to date. NULISA, developed by Alamar Biosciences, Inc., offers unprecedented sensitivity for detecting proteins in central nervous system fluids and low-volume plasma samples. The data includes cutting-edge longitudinal studies, genetic cohorts, and clinical trials spanning multiple neurodegenerative diseases including the A4, AHEAD 3-45 screening cohort, and REAL AD cohorts.
New DAC/APCC Partnership Announced in Davos: At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January, an agreement was announced with the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC) and African Population Cohorts Consortium (APCC) to accelerate brain health research and innovation across Africa. Working together with DAC and APCC, this partnership will seek practical ways to improve the sharing of population cohorts, clinical studies, and health data from across African countries, while protecting privacy and ensuring African institutions remain in control of governance and decision-making.
Gateway to Global Aging Data Interoperability: We are partnering to establish single-sign on and greater interoperability with the Gateway to Global Aging Data platform, which hosts population survey data on aging around the world.
New CPTO: Please welcome Ramasubramanian (Rama) Ramani as the AD Data Initiative’s new Chief Product and Technology Officer. Rama comes to our coalition after two decades as a Senior Director, Principal Product Manager, and Program Manager at Microsoft. We are very happy he has joined us to continue improving AD Workbench and our other product offerings for neurodegenerative researchers around the world.
New Publication from our Gates Fellowship Cohorts: As Cohort II of the William H. Gates Sr. AD Fellowship program continues to work on ways to further Alzheimer’s research through AI, we are exceptionally proud to share a recently published paper from members of both of our cohorts on “Advancing global dementia research through equity and inclusion.” We are honored to support these young ADRD researchers and provide the infrastructure, resources, and collaborative environment that enable their critical work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEW DATASETS NOW ACCESSIBLE VIA AD WORKBENCH
|
|
With the aid of our nine (and counting) interoperability partners, the number of datasets available on AD Workbench surged this quarter to 325, all findable and accessible through the AD Discovery Portal. New datasets include:
BIOCARD: Now available on AD Workbench is the BIOCARD study led by Johns Hopkins University, which has been extraordinarily helpful for understanding Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest phases for more than three decades. BIOCARD has followed 470+ cognitively normal individuals since 1995, integrates clinical assessments with advanced biomarkers and imaging (CSF, blood, PET, MRI), and examines lifestyle factors and genetics as disease modifiers.
AHA PMP: In May, AD Workbench will be fully interoperable with the AHA’s Precision Medicine Platform (PMP), which includes the largest registry of stroke and cardiovascular patient data in the US. Data from 2600+ hospitals and 13,000,000 patient records, including 90% of all stroke discharges, will be requestable through this partnership.
Chariot Pro Sub-Study (CPSS): The Cognitive Health in Aging Register: Investigational, Observational and Trial Studies in Dementia Research (CHARIOT): Prospective Readiness cOhort PRO) Substudy (CPSS), coming to AD Workbench in April, includes a wealth of detailed data on pre-clinical and early clinical stages of Alzheimer’s. CPSS tracks 410 cognitively unimpaired participants aged 60-85 alongside individuals with high amyloid and below threshold amyloid burden, and includes extensive imaging, longitudinal, cognitive, and biomarker data.
Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC): The ALFA (Alzheimer and Families) study, led by the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC), represents a highly valuable and deeply phenotyped cohort in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease research. With its large sample size, detailed longitudinal assessments, and integration of imaging, biomarker, genetic, and cognitive data, ALFA – now discoverable on AD Workbench – provides a real opportunity to accelerate discovery in early detection and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
|
UPCOMING EVENTS: Q2 2026
|
37th Alzheimer’s Disease International Conference
14-16 April, 2026
Lyon, France
BcnPit Biennial Conference on Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases
13-15 May, 2026
Barcelona, Spain
Alzheimer Society International Congress
18-20 May, 2026
San Francisco, California
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative 2026
|
|
|
|
|
