Faculty Spotlight

Collette Blach

Duke/UNC ADRC, Data Analyst, DMS Core

Senior Analyst Programmer, Duke 

Colette is trained as both an engineer and computer scientist and has been working at Duke since 1995, initially for Neurology. Since then, she has been designing or managing databases used across 400+ studies; involved in the MURDOCK registry project in Kannapolis; harmonizing data, especially medications across multiple projects; and leading data management for the AGMP (Alzheimer Gut Microbiome Project).  Her special interests are ontologies, electronic health records and geospatial analysis. The data that Colette helps collect at the Duke/UNC ADRC is invaluable for the future of basic research.  She has been involved in other projects using innovative analysis of ADRC data, Imaging, and samples to explore new leads into Alzheimer’s mechanisms. 

We are lucky to have Colette on our team as a critical member of the Data Management and Statistics Core!

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Learning Opportunity

NC State: Introduction to NIH

Join the NC State Proposal Development Unit for a summer grant writing workshop that will help you find NIH funding opportunities, navigate NIH proposal requirements, engage with relevant program officers, and discover tips and tricks for developing more competitive proposals for NIH’s peer review system.

August 8th & 9th | 9am – 12pm | Hybrid

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Funding Opportunity

Alzheimer’s Disease Strategic Fund: APOE Biology in Alzheimer’s (ABA) – Implications for Biological Underpinnings, Risk, Progression and Outcomes

The Alzheimer’s Association, in collaboration with the WoodNext Foundation, aims to support innovative, high-risk, collaborative team science opportunities that investigate and focus on outstanding questions related to the biological underpinnings of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This funding call will focus on projects aimed to advance our understanding of the role of APOE in genetically diverse populations. Projects should address scientific questions that better understand the impact of this gene and its product on biological underpinnings, risk, progression and individual outcomes. This program aims to incentivize research focused on APOE related questions that would not happen otherwise, targeting unmet needs in the APOE space that are not being addressed through other funding mechanisms.

• Letter of Intent Now Open! Must be submitted online here.
• Letter of Intent Deadline: August 19, 2024 at 5pm EST
• Application Deadline (if invited to submit a full application): October 15, 2024 at 5pm EST

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Publications

JAMA. 2024 Jun 10. Online ahead of print. PMD: 38857024

Associate Biomarker Core Leader, Miles Berger, has an editorial out on the recently published ENGAGES-CANADA study, which examined the effect of EEG-guided anesthetic titration on reducing postoperative delirium.