Alexander Ehrenberg, PhD

Assistant Researcher
[email protected]
Fields of Interest: 
Pathology

Alex is a biomedical scientist focused on neurological and psychiatric disease pathogenesis and therapeutic development. He received his BA and PhD from UC Berkeley with additional research training at UC San Francisco's Memory & Aging Center under the joint mentorship of Dr. Lea Grinberg and Dr. Daniela Kaufer. Alex's training included specialization in neuropathology, epidemiology, comparative neurology, molecular genetics, and cell biology. During his PhD, Alex focused on pathways underlying the selective vulnerability of neuromodulatory subcortical structures to neurodegenerative diseases and stress disorders. Through his work establishing clinical research programs at UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute during graduate school, he became interested in gene and cell therapy applications to neurologic and psychiatric diseases.

Now, Alex is a faculty member at the UCSF Memory & Aging Center as a Translational Health Fellow with the Innovative Genomics Institute. Here, he is jointly supervised by Dr. Bruce Miller and Dr. Jennifer Doudna. In this role, he continues to study the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders with a focus on identifying and developing targets for cell and gene therapies.

www.ajehrenberg.com

Publications: 

Neuropsychiatric profiles and cerebral amyloid burden in adults without dementia.

Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders

Gontrum EQ, Paolillo EW, Lee S, Diaz V, Ehrenberg A, Saloner R, Mundada NS, La Joie R, Rabinovici G, Kramer JH, Casaletto K

Enlarged perivascular spaces are associated with white matter injury, cognition and inflammation in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.

Brain Communications

Karvelas N, Oh B, Wang E, Cobigo Y, Tsuei T, Fitzsimons S, Younes K, Ehrenberg A, Geschwind MD, Schwartz D, Kramer JH, Ferguson AR, Miller BL, Silbert LC, Rosen HJ, Elahi FM

Spatial proteomics of hippocampal subfield-specific pathology in Alzheimer's disease and primary age-related tauopathy.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Walker JM, Orr ME, Orr TC, Thorn EL, Christie TD, Yokoda RT, Vij M, Ehrenberg AJ, Marx GA, McKenzie AT, Kauffman J, Selmanovic E, Wisniewski T, Drummond E, White CL, Crary JF, Farrell K, Kautz TF, Daoud EV, Richardson TE

Priorities for research on neuromodulatory subcortical systems in Alzheimer's disease: Position paper from the NSS PIA of ISTAART.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Ehrenberg AJ, Kelberman MA, Liu KY, Dahl MJ, Weinshenker D, Falgàs N, Dutt S, Mather M, Ludwig M, Betts MJ, Winer JR, Teipel S, Weigand AJ, Eschenko O, Hämmerer D, Leiman M, Counts SE, Shine JM, Robertson IH, Levey AI, Lancini E, Son G, Schneider C, Egroo MV, Liguori C, Wang Q, Vazey EM, Rodriguez-Porcel F, Haag L, Bondi MW, Vanneste S, Freeze WM, Yi YJ, Maldinov M, Gatchel J, Satpati A, Babiloni C, Kremen WS, Howard R, Jacobs HIL, Grinberg LT

Caspase-6-cleaved tau is relevant in Alzheimer's disease and marginal in four-repeat tauopathies: diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Neuropathology and applied neurobiology

Theofilas P, Piergies AMH, Oh I, Lee YB, Li SH, Pereira FL, Petersen C, Ehrenberg AJ, Eser RA, Ambrose AJ, Chin B, Yang T, Khan S, Ng R, Spina S, Seeley WW, Miller BL, Arkin MR, Grinberg LT

Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Autopsy-Confirmed Alzheimer Disease and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.

Neurology

Mattsson-Carlgren N, Grinberg LT, Boxer A, Ossenkoppele R, Jonsson M, Seeley W, Ehrenberg A, Spina S, Janelidze S, Rojas-Martinex J, Rosen H, La Joie R, Lesman-Segev O, Iaccarino L, Kollmorgen G, Ljubenkov P, Eichenlaub U, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller B, Hansson O, Rabinovici GD

Optimizing COVID-19 control with asymptomatic surveillance testing in a university environment.

Epidemics

Brook CE, Northrup GR, Ehrenberg AJ, IGI SARS-CoV-2 Testing Consortium, Doudna JA, Boots M

LuNER: Multiplexed SARS-CoV-2 detection in clinical swab and wastewater samples.

PloS one

Stahl EC, Gopez AR, Tsuchida CA, Fan VB, Moehle EA, Witkowsky LB, Hamilton JR, Lin-Shiao E, McElroy M, McDevitt SL, Ciling A, Tsui CK, Pestal K, Gildea HK, Keller A, Sylvain IA, Williams C, Hirsh A, Ehrenberg AJ, Kantor R, Metzger M, Nelson KL, Urnov FD, Ringeisen BR, Giannikopoulos P, Doudna JA, IGI Testing Consortium

Optimizing COVID-19 control with asymptomatic surveillance testing in a university environment.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences

Brook CE, Northrup GR, Ehrenberg AJ, Doudna JA, Boots M

Robotic RNA extraction for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance using saliva samples.

PloS one

Hamilton JR, Stahl EC, Tsuchida CA, Lin-Shiao E, Tsui CK, Pestal K, Gildea HK, Witkowsky LB, Moehle EA, McDevitt SL, McElroy M, Keller A, Sylvain I, Hirsh A, Ciling A, Ehrenberg AJ, Ringeisen BR, Huberty G, Urnov FD, Giannikopoulos P, Doudna JA, IGI SARS-CoV-2 Consortium

Launching a saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance testing program on a university campus.

PloS one

Ehrenberg AJ, Moehle EA, Brook CE, Doudna Cate AH, Witkowsky LB, Sachdeva R, Hirsh A, Barry K, Hamilton JR, Lin-Shiao E, McDevitt S, Valentin-Alvarado L, Letourneau KN, Hunter L, Keller A, Pestal K, Frankino PA, Murley A, Nandakumar D, Stahl EC, Tsuchida CA, Gildea HK, Murdock AG, Hochstrasser ML, O'Brien E, Ciling A, Tsitsiklis A, Worden K, Dugast-Darzacq C, Hays SG, Barber CC, McGarrigle R, Lam EK, Ensminger DC, Bardet L, Sherry C, Harte A, Nicolette G, Giannikopoulos P, Hockemeyer D, Petersen M, Urnov FD, Ringeisen BR, Boots M, Doudna JA, IGI SARS-CoV-2 Testing Consortium

Patterns of neuronal Rhes as a novel hallmark of tauopathies.

Acta neuropathologica

Ehrenberg AJ, Leng K, Letourneau KN, Hernandez I, Lew C, Seeley WW, Spina S, Miller B, Heinsen H, Kampmann M, Kosik KS, Grinberg LT

A novel temporal-predominant neuro-astroglial tauopathy associated with TMEM106B gene polymorphism in FTLD/ALS-TDP.

Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland)

Llibre-Guerra JJ, Lee SE, Suemoto CK, Ehrenberg AJ, Kovacs GG, Karydas A, Staffaroni A, De Paula Franca Resende E, Kim EJ, Hwang JH, Ramos EM, Wojta KJ, Pasquini L, Pang SY, Spina S, Allen IE, Kramer J, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Grinberg LT

Molecular characterization of selectively vulnerable neurons in Alzheimer's disease.

Nature neuroscience

Leng K, Li E, Eser R, Piergies A, Sit R, Tan M, Neff N, Li SH, Rodriguez RD, Suemoto CK, Leite REP, Ehrenberg AJ, Pasqualucci CA, Seeley WW, Spina S, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT, Kampmann M

IGI-LuNER: single-well multiplexed RT-qPCR test for SARS-CoV-2.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences

Stahl EC, Tsuchida CA, Hamilton JR, Lin-Shiao E, McDevitt SL, Moehle EA, Witkowsky LB, Tsui CK, Pestal K, Gildea HK, McElroy M, Keller A, Sylvain I, Williams C, Hirsh A, Ciling A, Ehrenberg AJ, Urnov FD, Ringeisen BR, Giannikopoulos P, Doudna JA

Relevance of biomarkers across different neurodegenerative diseases.

Alzheimer's research & therapy

Ehrenberg AJ, Khatun A, Coomans E, Betts MJ, Capraro F, Thijssen EH, Senkevich K, Bharucha T, Jafarpour M, Young PNE, Jagust W, Carter SF, Lashley T, Grinberg LT, Pereira JB, Mattsson-Carlgren N, Ashton NJ, Hanrieder J, Zetterberg H, Schöll M, Paterson RW

A manual multiplex immunofluorescence method for investigating neurodegenerative diseases.

Journal of neuroscience methods

Ehrenberg AJ, Morales DO, Piergies AMH, Li SH, Tejedor JS, Mladinov M, Mulder J, Grinberg LT

Language and spatial dysfunction in Alzheimer disease with white matter thorn-shaped astrocytes.

Neurology

Resende EPF, Nolan AL, Petersen C, Ehrenberg AJ, Spina S, Allen IE, Rosen HJ, Kramer J, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Gorno-Tempini ML, Miller Z, Grinberg LT

Locus coeruleus imaging as a biomarker for noradrenergic dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases.

Brain : a journal of neurology

Betts MJ, Kirilina E, Otaduy MCG, Ivanov D, Acosta-Cabronero J, Callaghan MF, Lambert C, Cardenas-Blanco A, Pine K, Passamonti L, Loane C, Keuken MC, Trujillo P, Lüsebrink F, Mattern H, Liu KY, Priovoulos N, Fliessbach K, Dahl MJ, Maaß A, Madelung CF, Meder D, Ehrenberg AJ, Speck O, Weiskopf N, Dolan R, Inglis B, Tosun D, Morawski M, Zucca FA, Siebner HR, Mather M, Uludag K, Heinsen H, Poser BA, Howard R, Zecca L, Rowe JB, Grinberg LT, Jacobs HIL, Düzel E, Hämmerer D

Profound degeneration of wake-promoting neurons in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Oh J, Eser RA, Ehrenberg AJ, Morales D, Petersen C, Kudlacek J, Dunlop SR, Theofilas P, Resende EDPF, Cosme C, Alho EJL, Spina S, Walsh CM, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Bittencourt JC, Neylan TC, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT

Alzheimer's disease clinical variants show distinct regional patterns of neurofibrillary tangle accumulation.

Acta neuropathologica

Petersen C, Nolan AL, de Paula França Resende E, Miller Z, Ehrenberg AJ, Gorno-Tempini ML, Rosen HJ, Kramer JH, Spina S, Rabinovici GD, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT

Selective Vulnerability of Brainstem Nuclei in Distinct Tauopathies: A Postmortem Study.

Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology

Eser RA, Ehrenberg AJ, Petersen C, Dunlop S, Mejia MB, Suemoto CK, Walsh CM, Rajana H, Oh J, Theofilas P, Seeley WW, Miller BL, Neylan TC, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT

Neuropathologic Correlates of Psychiatric Symptoms in Alzheimer's Disease.

Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD

Ehrenberg AJ, Suemoto CK, de Paula França Resende E, Petersen C, Leite REP, Rodriguez RD, Ferretti-Rebustini REL, You M, Oh J, Nitrini R, Pasqualucci CA, Jacob-Filho W, Kramer JH, Gatchel JR, Grinberg LT

Probing the correlation of neuronal loss, neurofibrillary tangles, and cell death markers across the Alzheimer's disease Braak stages: a quantitative study in humans.

Neurobiology of aging

Theofilas P, Ehrenberg AJ, Nguy A, Thackrey JM, Dunlop S, Mejia MB, Alho AT, Paraizo Leite RE, Rodriguez RD, Suemoto CK, Nascimento CF, Chin M, Medina-Cleghorn D, Cuervo AM, Arkin M, Seeley WW, Miller BL, Nitrini R, Pasqualucci CA, Filho WJ, Rueb U, Neuhaus J, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT

Quantifying the accretion of hyperphosphorylated tau in the locus coeruleus and dorsal raphe nucleus: the pathological building blocks of early Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropathology and applied neurobiology

Ehrenberg AJ, Nguy AK, Theofilas P, Dunlop S, Suemoto CK, Di Lorenzo Alho AT, Leite RP, Diehl Rodriguez R, Mejia MB, Rüb U, Farfel JM, de Lucena Ferretti-Rebustini RE, Nascimento CF, Nitrini R, Pasquallucci CA, Jacob-Filho W, Miller B, Seeley WW, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT

Locus coeruleus volume and cell population changes during Alzheimer's disease progression: A stereological study in human postmortem brains with potential implication for early-stage biomarker discovery.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Theofilas P, Ehrenberg AJ, Dunlop S, Di Lorenzo Alho AT, Nguy A, Leite REP, Rodriguez RD, Mejia MB, Suemoto CK, Ferretti-Rebustini REL, Polichiso L, Nascimento CF, Seeley WW, Nitrini R, Pasqualucci CA, Jacob Filho W, Rueb U, Neuhaus J, Heinsen H, Grinberg LT