Celebrating 10 years: San Diego’s Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute paves the way for clinical research

Founded in 2015 and based in San Diego, Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute, ATRI, is paving the way for Alzheimer’s treatment.

With an impact stretching across the globe, ATRI recently celebrated 10 years, honoring their dedication to early Alzheimer’s detection, clinical trials and exploration.

“ATRI is affiliated with USC Keck School of Medicine. ATRI is a coordinating center for clinical trials, focused on developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s and Alzheimer’s related dementia. In San Diego, we have eight professors and around 230 staff members,” Michael Rafii, MD, PhD, ATRI medical director, explained.

At the forefront of ATRI’s research is clinical studies and therapeutic treatment for those who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. At any given time, ATRI is running between 10 to 15 clinical trials.

“We have different units within ATRI. We have a medical safety unit, an administrative unit, a biomarker unit, a statistics unit, a recruitment unit, an informatics unit, an MRI unit and a clinical operations unit. These all work together from the initial thought of a trial all the way to conducting trials at sites across the country to collecting and publishing results,” Rafii explained.

With roughly 100 sites, ATRI’s work has been a cornerstone of research for Alzheimer’s, specifically in early detection and initial prevention tactics.

“There are two FDA approved treatments that are disease modifying, meaning they are shown to slow down the disease. There is also now a blood test available,” Rafii said. “A very exciting way to think about this is that just like we check for other diseases, we can now check and really do something about this. These blood tests will eventually be a simple way to test even within asymptomatic individuals.”

North County resident Lisa Malec is a patient of ATRI currently receiving treatment.

“Not long ago I reached the end of my first year as an Alzheimer’s patient. I am so grateful to have treatment, and I hope the amazing research at ATRI continues. I went from feeling very alone to actually being excited about my future,” Malec said.

For Malec, her day-to-day routine since receiving treatment has remained relatively normal. Malec’s therapy consists of an FDA approved injection called LEQEMBI. I

“Visiting family and friends, doing my chores, going to events. I even signed up to be in a play at my retirement community. Most importantly, every day I spend time working with crossword puzzles, games, and anything that will help me continue to use my brain,” Malec explained. “I have infusion every two weeks, which will continue for two more years. It is really important to continue my therapy, considering that it is a 30 percent improvement for me.”

For Rafii and fellow faculty at ATRI, Malec’s story is proof that the Alzheimer’s shoe is not one size fits all. With a wide range of prognosis and diagnosis, meeting patients where they are within the disease is vital.

“Most people think of someone with dementia. Alzheimer’s is in fact a much longer continuum. Dementia is a stage, but so is the pre-clinical stage, where you are asymptomatic. Our biggest trials are targeting the earliest stages of the disease, but we run them up through the latest stages of dementia,” Rafii said. “Our institute focuses on brining the latest therapies across the entire continuum.”

Dr. Gustavo Jimenez-Maggiora, PhD, MBA, is the director of the Informatics Section at ATRI. His team is responsible for storing and collecting data from clinical trials across the country.

As a San Diego native, watching ATRI’s impact on the county and aiding in the widespread research pool has been rewarding for Jimenez-Maggiora.

“We have a strong relationship with the Alzheimer’s Association here in San Diego. We do a lot of work with them, reaching out to participants and patients at various stages of their journey through the disease. We have incredible relationships with other research institutes, like Salk, Scripps and UCSD. We share research results, ideas and try to nurture a collaborative approach to this research, we want to benefit from one another,” Jimenez-Maggiora said. “We want to make San Diego a leading region for Alzheimer’s disease research.”

The open approach to their findings is a core value of ATRI, Jimenez-Maggiora explained.

“As part of this commitment, ATRI shares all data and samples collected in our trials, along with the software and tools we develop, with researchers around the world, including many based right here in San Diego. We do this to foster collaboration and empower others to help us collectively advance our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and accelerate the development of new therapies and diagnostic tools.”

Adam Glasser, a USC Keck School of Medicine student and ATRI intern, joined the institute with a similar sense of commitment to San Diego’s research community.

“The most rewarding part of my internship was knowing that I was part of a USC Trojan community of researchers in San Diego dedicated to benefiting the lives of approximately 6.7 million people in the United States,” Glasser said. “I am studying neuroscience because it combines my curiosity for human consciousness with my interest in human biology. My mother, a clinical social worker, inspired my fascination with human psychology from a young age, and I found the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience appealing and intriguing.”

Glasser’s internship consisted of a range of research, including work with lab mice.

“I primarily worked with blood plasma samples from a transgenic mice line which had been bred to overexpress proteins associated with human Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. At the start of my day, I often organized samples and prepared analytical instruments to test the levels of AD proteins of interest in different mouse age groups. During incubations and washes of these samples and tests, I would have meetings with the Rissman lab and the internship team,” Glasser said.

As Glasser plans to continue his work at a remote ATRI lab in Los Angeles, he is grateful to have contributed to the San Diego community.

“When beginning my journey at ATRI my main goals were to develop my research skills, and understand how to plan, design, and execute basic science experiments and interpret the data,” Glasser said. In the process of running the experiment, I learned to read and analyze a lot of AD literature, conduct sampling and bioassays in AD mice, and attended multiple lectures on biomarkers, biostatistics, and research operations. I have had time to recognize how my interest in both neuroscience research and preventive medicine has grown.”

Looking ahead, the ATRI team is dedicated to extending Alzheimer’s research and creating an accessible model for early detection.

One of their current initiatives includes a digital way for prospective patients to be matched with care via an online portal.

“Blood tests have been a huge development in the field. One of our current goals is to expand an ongoing project called the APT Web Study. It is for people who are 50 and up and interested in learning about research and what clinical trials are out there. Every three months, you do an online cognitive test and based on results, you may be invited to have a blood test done that will tell you if you are eligible for an ATRI clinical trial,” Rafii said.

For individuals curious about treatment plans or interested in partaking in research, Rafii urges involvement.

“Clinical trials are the bridge to new treatments.”

More information on the APT Web Study can be found at https://www.aptwebstudy.org. For information on ATRI, visit https://atri.usc.edu.