Draft Statement of Work MRImage analysis

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Title of Project:
Early Markers of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) Participants - Structural and Functional Brain Changes: Quantitative Analysis of Longitudinal MR Images Statement of Need and Purpose:
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) requires specialized, non-commercial services to process and quantify magnetic resonance (MR) images from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). The contractor shall apply established image analysis methods to Government-provided datasets and deliver consistent quantitative measures and supporting image files. This requirement covers processing and analysis services; it does not require the development, validation, or delivery of new software or algorithms.
The BLSA is an ongoing longitudinal study of aging. NIA has collected brain images from participants since 1994 and uses quantitative measures of brain structure and function to examine changes associated with normal aging, cognitive change, and Alzheimer’s disease. Analysis under this contract must account for visits acquired over time and changes in scanner or acquisition protocol so that the resulting measures can be compared with historical BLSA data. NIA conducts its own analyses of positron emission tomography (PET) data; this contract supplies anatomical labels and registration information for that work.
Background Information and Objective:
Since 1958, the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) has been a major research program conducted by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The BLSA is a multi-disciplinary study of physiologic and psychological aspects of normal aging in community-dwelling men and women. Active BLSA participants are volunteers who visit the Clinical Unit of the NIA-Intramural Research Program (IRP) in Baltimore, MD for testing every 1 to 4 years. Since 1994, the NIA has been conducting a longitudinal brain imaging study of older adults in the BLSA to characterize individual differences in longitudinal brain changes, to investigate the extent to which these brain changes underlie individual differences in cognitive aging, to identify brain changes that may be predictors of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, and to assess the impact of potential modulators of brain and cognitive aging. As of October, 2024, more than 4000 neuroimaging evaluations have been performed for BLSA participants. As part of this research program, it has also been necessary to develop and validate sophisticated tools for analysis