The Neuronal Resilience and Vulnerability in Aging (NERVA) Research Lab is a group led by Alexander Ehrenberg, PhD within the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center and UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute.

The NERVA lab explores the pathophysiology of age-associated neurologic and psychiatric disorders with a mission to identify and develop targets for cell and gene therapies. We leverage model-based, neuropathologic, and translational approaches to uncover mechanisms underlying selective vulnerability and resilience. Our approaches are grounded in frameworks that consider how evolutionary, genetic, and life history factors drive an individual into and along disease spectra. We focus our therapeutic development efforts on the development and application of genome editing technologies to modify the patterns and processes of selective vulnerability.

Research

Alexander Ehrenberg, PhD

Dr. Ehrenberg is the principal investigator of NERVA. He 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 the UC San Francisco Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center under the joint mentorship of Dr. Lea Grinberg and Dr. Daniela Kaufer. His graduate training included specialization in neuropathology, epidemiology, comparative neurology, molecular genetics, and cell biology. After graduate school, he completed fellowship training in genome editing, neuropathology, and genetics as a junior investigator working under the joint mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Bruce Miller

Now, Dr. Ehrenberg is an investigator jointly appointed to the UCSF Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center and Innovative Genomics Institute. In this role, he continues to study the pathophysiology of age-associated neurological and psychiatric disorders with a focus on identifying and developing targets for cell and gene therapies. He is also an affiliate of the UC Berkeley Center for Resilience Studies to support efforts to improve outcomes for stress disorders, including early childhood adversity and post-traumatic stress.

Contact Information

Curriculum Vitae