Alaina T. Baker-Nigh

Assistant Professor
Biology

---

Education

Ph.D., Northwestern University

Research Interests

Baker-Nigh is a neuroscientist with a research background in neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Her work in the area has included quantitation of Apolipoprotein E isoforms in human subjects by Mass Spectrometry (in the context of AD and normal aging), exploring the role of calbindin and calcium buffering in the selective vulnerability of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in AD, and studies of amyloid isoform production using a chicken embryo model.

Publications and Media Placements

Kinetics of Apolipoprotein E isoforms in human cerebrospinal fluid in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. (In preparation. First Author) 

Baker-Nigh, A., K. Mawuenyega, J.G. Bollinger, V. Ovod, T. Kasten, E.E. Franklin, F. Liao, H. Jiang, D. Holtzman, N.J. Cairns, J.C. Morris, and R.J. Bateman (2017). Human Central Nervous System (CNS) ApoE Isoforms Are Increased by Age, Differentially Altered by Amyloidosis, and Relative Amounts Reversed in the CNS Compared with Plasma. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291: 27204-27218.

Norvin, D, G. Kim, A. Baker-Nigh, and C. Geula (2015). Accumulation and age-related elevation of amyloid-β within basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in the rhesus monkey. Neuroscience, 298: 102-111.

Baker-Nigh, A., S. Vahedi, E.G. Davis, S. Weintraub, E.H. Bigio, W. L. Klein, & C. Geula (2015). Neuronal amyloid-β accumulation within cholinergic basal forebrain in ageing and Alzheimer's disease. Brain : a Journal of Neurology, 138(Pt 6), 1722–1737. http://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv024

Riascos, D.*, D. de Leon*, A. Baker-Nigh*, A. Nicholas, R. Yukhananov, J. Bu, C.-K. Wu, and C. Geula (2011). Age-related loss of calcium buffering and selective neuronal vulnerability in Alzheimer's disease. Acta Neuropathol, 122(5): 565-576. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00401-011-0865-4 (Co-First Author)