Grants > Understanding Natural Protection Against Cognitive Decline: The 100-plus Study Updated On: Sep 25, 2026
BrightFocus Foundation Grant

Understanding Natural Protection Against Cognitive Decline: The 100-plus Study

a headshot of Dr. Holstege

Principal Investigator

Henne Holstege, PhD

Alzheimer Center of the VU University Medical Center

Amsterdam, Netherlands

About the Research Project

Program

BrightFocus Foundation

Award Type

Other

Award Amount

$100,000

Active Dates

August 01, 2026 - July 31, 2027

Grant ID

CA2027001

Goals

Maintaining the infrastructure of the 100-plus Study: cohort expansion and biomaterial collection

Unique and Innovative

These activities preserve the core infrastructure required to study why some individuals maintain cognitive health into extreme old age. This provides the foundation for the scientific phase of the 100-plus Study in which donated brains can ultimately be linked to the longitudinal cognitive, clinical, genetic and biomarker information collected from participants during life.

Foreseeable Benefits

1. Maintain nationwide recruitment and longitudinal follow-up.
Maintain the trained personnel and participant coordination required for nationwide recruitment and uninterrupted longitudinal follow-up throughout the funding period. Eligible and willing participants will continue to be offered home-based cognitive assessments and biosample collection.
2. Maintain and expand the brain-donation programme.
Maintain active recruitment of prospective brain donors and the coordination, technical support, sample processing and biobanking infrastructure required for the brain-donation programme. We aim to continue the current trajectory towards approximately 50 additional completed brain donations over the two-year Fidelity funding period. Each new donation will be processed, neuropathologically assessed, biobanked and linked to the participant’s longitudinal cognitive, clinical, genetic and biomarker data.