Aldridge Lab 2025
Welcome to the Aldridge Laboratory:
Dr. Georgina Aldridge is a neurologist and neuroscientist whose specializes in treating and diagnosing patients with cognitive disorders, including those with Lewy Body dementia/Parkinson's disease dementia. In these patients, the protein alpha-synuclein aggregates, leading to severe multi-system symptoms, including hallucinations, loss of smell, dementia, imbalance, fluctuating confusion, and anxiety/depression. Our main goal is to understand how protein pathology in different parts of the brain impact the development of these symptoms.
Dr. Aldridge and her team use 2-photon microscopy to image neuronal structure (dendritic spines, dendrites, and axons) and function (calcium imaging) over time in living mice to evaluate how alpha-synuclein and other proteins involved in neurodegenerative conditions lead to changes in cortical function.
The team also evaluated autopsy tissue from donors to evaluate which areas of the brain are most impacted.
Finally, Dr. Aldridge also leads a patient registry evaluating how different symptoms interact and how we might best be able to predict and prevent the day to day up and down of the dementia roller-coaster.
The protein aggregates in Lewy Body Dementia
This neuron, filled with phospho-synuclein (in pink) was from a donor that had Lewy Body Dementia.This cell was located in the Locus Coeruleus, a small nucleus that provides norepinephrine to the rest of the brain.
Prefrontal Apicals in yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) expressing mice.
Alpha-synuclein immunostaining after viral overexpression (green)
Lewy Body in subtantia nigra from Parkinson's dementia patient (pink sphere)
Dendritic spines and axons imaged once per week
Dendritic spines and axonal boutons in vivo
