What are biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and why are they important in research and application? A classic definition derives from the NIH in 1998: viz., A biomarker is an “objectively measured…indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to therapeutic interventions.” Given the complementary facts of a long insidious onset period for AD and the multifactorial nature of AD, a range of enhanced approaches have emerged. These include the 2018 ATN research framework, which calls for evidence of three key factors to improve diagnostic accuracy: ß Amyloid deposition, pathologic Tau, and Neurodegeneration. They also include corresponding technological developments in neuroinformatics modeling of these and other biomarker modalities for early AD risk detection. This spectrum of complementary approaches is represented in the roster of four speakers in this workshop. The speakers are all members of CCNA with stellar research profiles in biomarkers of AD. Each talk is designed for a broad CCNA audience and an open discussion period follows the presentation. Roger A Dixon (CCNA Team 9 Co-Lead, UAlberta) moderates the presentations by Pedro Rosa-Neto (Neurology and Douglas Research Centre, McGill), Mari DeMarco (St. Paul’s Hospital and UBC), Cheryl Wellington (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC), and Yasser Iturria-Medina (Neurology, McGill).

Pedro Rosa-Neto: Biomarkers for Staging Pathophysiological Progression in Alzheimer's Disease 
Mari DeMarco: Alzheimer's Disease CSF Testing in the Wild: The IMPACT-AD Study
Cheryl Wellington: Progress in Fluid Biomarkers for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Aging
Yasser Iturria-Medina: On the Importance of Multifactorial Disease Progression Modeling in Neurodegeneration