Head, Elizabeth, MA, PhD

EDUCATION
B.S. (Neuroscience) 1991, University of Toronto
M.A. (Psychology) 1992, University of Toronto
Ph.D. (Neuroscience) 1997, University of Toronto


 

EMPLOYMENT

2002 - Present Adjunct Associate Scientist, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM
2002 - Present Director of Tissue Repository, The Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
2002 - Present Co-Principal Investigator of the Neuropathology Core for the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
1999 - Present Assistant Professional Researcher, The Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
1997 - 1999 Postdoctoral Fellow, The Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
1993 - 1997 Teaching Assistant, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

 

HONORS
Honors List, University of Toronto, June 1991
University of Toronto Open Masters Fellowship, September 1992
University of Toronto Open Doctoral Fellowship, September 1993
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Graduate Award, January
     1993 to January 1995
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, May 1995, 1996
Scarborough Campus Graduate Student Award (Ph.D. level) - May 17, 1996
6th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders
     Travel Award, April 28, 1998

 

AREAS OF RESEARCH
AD is the most common cause of dementia in humans and is characterized by a progressive decline in cognitive function, leading to functional impairments and eventually, death. The prevalence of AD in the elderly population rises from 12% over the age of 75 years to as high as 50% over the age of 85 years. However, differentiating normal from pathological aging is a challenge clinicians diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Part of the difficulty stems from the lack of a biological marker. To understand the mechanisms underlying abnormal brain aging our laboratory studies aged dogs as a model of human aging. Dogs and humans develop similar cognitive dysfunction with age and a subset of individuals develops severe learning and memory impairments. Similar neuropathology also develops in the brains of aged humans, individuals with AD, and dogs. Both species develop senile plaque neuropathology with more extensive plaque accumulation associated with severe cognitive impairments. The focus of our research is to identify and characterize interventions that will promote successful brain aging and dogs and translate these findings in the human AD clinic. We are currently investigating the potential for antioxidants, environmental enrichment and immunization with the A peptide to slow or halt the development of pathological brain aging in dogs.



REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

  1. Nelson, L., J. K. Johnson, M. Freedman, I. Lott, J. Groot, M. Chang, N. W. Milgram and E. Head: Learning and Memory as a Function of Age in Down Syndrome: A Study Using Animal-Based Tasks. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry 29(3): 443-453, 2005.

     

  2. Newman, J., R. A. Rissman, F. Sarsoza, R. C. Kim, M. Dick, D. A. Bennett, C. W. Cotman, T. T. Rohn and E. Head: Caspase-Cleaved tau Accumulation in Neurodegenerative Diseases Associated with tau and a-Synuclein Pathology. Acta Neuropathol. (Berl.) 110(2): 135-144, 2005.

     

  3. Roudebush, P., S. C. Zicker, C. W. Cotman, N. W. Milgram, B. A. Muggenburg and E. Head: Nutritional Management of Brain Aging in Dogs. J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 227(5): 722-728, 2005.

     

  4. Siwak, C. T., P. D. Tapp, E. Head, S. C. Zicker, H. L. Murphey, B. A. Muggenburg, C. J. Ikeda-Douglas, C. W. Cotman and N. W. Milgram: Chronic Antioxidant and Mitochondrial Cofactor Administration Improves Discrimination Learning in Aged but not Young Dogs. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry 29(3): 461-469, 2005.

     

  5. Tapp, P. D., Y. Chu, J. A. Araujo, J. Y. Chiou, E. Head, N. W. Milgram and M. Y. Su: Effects of Scopolamine Challenge on Regional Cerebral Blood Volume: A Pharmacological Model to Validate the Use of Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Cerebral Blood Volume in a Canine Model of Aging. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry 29(3): 399-406, 2005.

     

  6. Chubb, C., Y. Inagaki, P. Sheu, B. Cummings, A. Wasserman, E. Head and C. Cotman: BioVision: An Application for the Automated Image Analysis of Histological Sections. Neurobiol. Aging 27(10): 1462-1476, 2006.

     

  7. Gunn-Moore, D. A., J. McVee, J. M. Bradshaw, G. R. Pearson, E. Head and F. J. Gunn-Moore: Ageing Changes in Cat Brains Demonstrated by b-Amyloid and AT8-Immunoreactive Phosphorylated tau Deposits. J. Feline Med. Surg. 8(4): 234-242, 2006.

     

  8. Head, E., E. G. Barrett, M. P. Murphy, P. Das, M. Nistor, F. Sarsoza, C. C. Glabe, R. Kayed, S. Milton, V. Vasilevko, N. W. Milgram, M. G. Agadjanyan, D. H. Cribbs and C. W. Cotman: Immunization with Fibrillar Ab1-42 in Young and Aged Canines: Antibody Generation and Characterstics, and Effects on CSF and Brain Ab. Vaccine 24(15): 2824-2834, 2006.

     

  9. Head, E., A. Starr, R. C. Kim, A. Parachikova, G. E. Lopez, M. Dick and D. H. Cribbs: Relapsing Polychondritis with Features of Dementia with Lewy Bodies.Acta Neuropathol. (Berl.) 112(2): 217-225, 2006.

     

  10. Lott, I. T., E. Head, E. Doran and J. Busciglio: Beta-Amyloid, Oxidative Stress and Down Syndrome. Curr. Alzheimer Res. 3(5): 521-528, 2006.

     

  11. Milgram, N. W., C. T. Siwak-Tapp, J. Araujo and E. Head: Neuroprotective Effects of Cognitive Enrichment. Ageing Res. Rev. 5(3): 354-369, 2006.

     

  12. Mouser, P. E., E. Head, K. H. Ha and T. T. Rohn: Caspase-Mediated Cleaveage of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein within Degenerating Astrocytes of the Alzheimer's Disease Brain. Am. J. Pathol. 168(3): 936-946, 2006.

     

  13. Nistor, M., M. Don, M. Parekh, F. Sarsoza, M. Goodus, G. E. Lopez, C. Kawas, J. Leverenz, E. Doran, I. T. Lott, M. Hill and E. Head: Alpha- and Beta-Secretase Activity as a Function of Age and Beta-Amyloid in Down Syndrome and Normal Brain. Neurobiol. Aging Aug 8 [Epub ahead of print], 2006.

     

  14. Opii, W. O., G. Joshi, E. Head, N. W. Milgram, B. A. Muggenburg, J. B. Klein, W. M. Pierce, C. W. Cotman and D. A. Butterfield: Proteomic Identification of Brain Proteins in the Canine Model of Human Aging Following a Long-Term Treatment with Antioxidants and a Program of Behavioral Enrichment: Relevance to Alzheimer's Disease. Neurobiol. Aging Oct 19 [Epub ahead of print], 2006.

     

  15. Siwak-Tapp, C. T., E. Head, B. A. Muggenburg, N. W. Milgram and C. W. Cotman: Region Specific Neuron Loss in the Aged Canine Hippocampus is Reduced by Enrichment. Neurobiol. Aging Nov 6 [Epub ahead of print], 2006.

     

  16. Studzinski, C. M., L. A. Christie, J. A. Araujo, W. M. Burnham, E. Head, C. W. Cotman and N. W. Milgram: Visuospatial Function in the Beagle Dog: An Early Marker of Cognitive Decline in a Model of Human Aging and Dementia. Neurobiol. Learn Mem. 86(2): 197-204, 2006.

     

  17. Tapp, P. D., K. Head, E. Head, N. W. Milgram, B. A. Muggenburg and M. Y. Su: Application of an Automated Voxel-Based Morphometry Technique to Assess Regional Gray and White Matter Brain Atrophy in a Canine Model of Aging. Neuroimage 29(1): 234-244, 2006.

     

  18. Head, E., I. T. Lott, D. Patterson, E. Doran and R. J. Haier: Possible Compensatory Events in Adult Down Syndrome Brain Prior to the Development of Alzheimer Disease Neuropathology: Targets for Nonpharmacological Intervention. J. Alzheimers Dis. 11(1): 61-76, 2007.
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