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Alzheimer's disease is claiming more and more victims worldwide every day. Over 5.5 million Americans are now victims and medical scientists predict that unless a prevention/cure is found that the number of American victims will grow to 16 million within the next 20 to 25 years. Further, that without a cure, one out of every 10 living Americans will ultimately become victims. It is now thought that every 70 seconds an American is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (1238 Americans daily). It is estimated that 75 percent of the world's victims live outside of the United States.

Rotarians in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia are the sponsors of The CART Fund (Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust) dedicated to raising funds to provide the "seed" money for cutting edge, high impact research in hopes of finding a cure/prevention for Alzheimer's disease.

In order to accomplish this, Rotarians are encouraged to voluntarily empty their pockets of change, or what ever amount they choose, whenever they attend a Rotary meeting.

As of April 2009, over $2,800,000.00 have been contributed to CART. 12 grants have been made totaling $2,750,000.00.

The Fund is directed by a CART Board of Directors made up of representatives from the sponsoring Rotary Districts. The CART Fund by-laws require that 100% of all donated funds must go to A.D. Research.

The effectiveness of donated change can be illustrated by considering that in the 11 Rotary districts of The Carolinas and Georgia, there are approximately 35,100 Rotarians. Assuming 85 percent attendance, 48 meetings a year and an average donation of just 35 cents, we can raise over $500,000 for research annually. Using this formula, Rotarians in the USA and Canada, combined, could provide over $5.5 million annually for Alzheimer's research.

For information how your Rotary Club or you as an individual can join the fight against Alzheimer's disease, contact the CART Board by email at info@cartfund.org.

All contributions are tax deductible. CART is a 501(c)(3) organizations. Tax ID # is 31-1466051. Checks may be mailed to:

The CART Fund
P.O. Box 1916
Sumter, SC 29151

CART is currently sponsored by Rotary Districts: : 6900, 6910, 6920, 7670, 7680, 7690, 7710, 7720, 7730, 7750 and 7770.

Recent News

Cleveland Clinic and University of Alabama Birmingham awarded 2008 CART grants

For the first time in 2008, the CART Fund was able to make two grants in one year. From 56 outstanding applicants, our Scientific Review Committee chaired by Dr. John Trojanowski of the University of Pennsylvania, assisted by Dr. Allan Levey of Emory University and Dr. Karl Herrup of Rutgers University, recommended that our grants be made to Dr. Sanjay Pimplikar of the Cleveland Clinic ($250,000.00) and Dr. David Sweatt of UAB ($200,000.00).

Dr. Pimplikar's research will explore the possibility that an emyloid percusor protein, called AICD, is the real culprit in causing Alzheimer's disease. Up to now most scientists have focused on the A-beta part of the amyloid precursor but recent clinical trials targeting A-Beta have unfortunately failed. AICD has been shown to cause tau aggregation which is bad. Dr. Pimplikar states that his hopes are that in addition to confirming that AICD is the cause of AD, his research will screen for drugs that will prevent tau aggregation.

Most research to find the cause of Alzheimer's disease, unfortunately, has failed. Dr. Pimplikar has shown in his early research that a protein referred to as AICD may be the cause of Alzheimer's disease. This is an area that has been explored by few, if any other scientists. Dr. Pimplikar states that his hopes are that in addition to confirming that AICD is the cause of A.D. his research will screen for drugs that will prevent the effects of this protein. Recent developments indicate that Dr. Pimplikar's research has great promise. In expressing his appreciation to CART and the Rotarians who make it possible, Dr. Pimplikar stated "CART funding is supporting novel and cutting edge research".

Dr. Sweatt states that "CART funding will be critical for his laboratory to be able to aggressively pursue the development of a new drug that hopefully will lead to a new type of treatment for Alzheimer's disease. His lab has discovered that long term memory formation involves changes in chemical and three dimensional structure of DNA. This discovery has allowed he and his colleagues to develop a new line of drug treatments that improve memory formation in laboratory animals. With the CART grant, Dr. Sweatt will be able to genetically test these findings.

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