Main projects
Goats as a model for ADRD
Long-term, ongoing
Since 2023 the CVN lab has been working on establishing domestic goats as a model for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Goats constantly headbutt, naturally self-inflicting brain injury. We are analyzing brain pathology, fluid biomarkers, medical imaging, behavioral changes, and transcriptomics. Our goal is to better understand disease triggers, onset, and longterm development into dementias.
In collaboration with Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Neurodegeneration in woodpeckers
Long-term, ongoing
Woodpecker’s pecking behavior has fascinated scientists and laymen alike for decades, yet there is no conclusive evidence showing whether they sustain or avoid brain injury. The CVN lab is investigating this question by analyzing brain pathology, fluid biomarkers and pecking behavior in the wild.
In collaboration with the UA Tanglewood research station.
Headbutting brain damage in wild bovids
Recently completed
Bovids like bighorn sheep and muskoxen are charismatic species that perform extreme headbutting fights. In 2022 I established that headbutting leads to chronic brain damage in these animals, with neuropathology akin to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, as seen in football players.
PIs: Patrick Hof & Joy Reidenberg, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
See: Ackermans NL et al. Evidence of traumatic brain injury in headbutting bovids (2022). Acta Neuropathologica.
Tooth wear in ruminants
Past
My dissertation explored mechanisms of tooth wear in experimentally fed sheep and goats. We validated proxies such as mesowear and microwear used for dietary reconstruction by feeding experimental diets with varying sizes and concentrations of abrasives to sheep for 18 months.
PI: Marcus Class at the University of Zurich
Selected publications
Ackermans NL. A history of thought of brain injury in head-hitting animals (2025). Anatomical Record, TBI thematic issue. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.70069
Ackermans NL, Reidenberg JS. Only skull deep? Headbutting adaptations may not extend to the brain cavity (2025). Anatomical Record, TBI special issue. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25623
Woodruff DC, Ackermans NL. Headbutting through time: A review of this hypothesized behavior in “dome-headed” fossil taxa (2024). The Anatomical Record. doi.org/10.1002/ar.25526
Ackermans NL. Neurobiological tradeoffs of headbutting bovids (2023). Trends in Neurosciences. doi.org/10.1007/s00401-022-02427-2
Ackermans NL, Varghese M, Williams TM, Grimaldi N, Selmanovic E, Alipour A, Balchandani P, Reidenberg JS, Hof PR. Evidence of traumatic brain injury in headbutting bovids (2022). Acta Neuropathologica. doi.org/10.1007/s00401-022-02427-2
Chusyd DE, Ackermans NL, Austad SN, Hof PR, Mielke MM, Sherwood CC, Allison DB. Aging: What we can learn from elephants (2021). Frontiers in Aging. 2(36). doi.org/10.3389/fragi.2021.726714
Ackermans NL, Varghese M, Wicinski B, Torres J, De Gasperi R, Pryor D, Elder GA, Gama Sosa MA, Reidenberg JS, Williams TM, Hof PR. Unconventional animal models for traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (2021). Journal of Neuroscience Research, 00, 1-15. doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24920
Ackermans N. L., Winkler DE, Schulz-Kornas E, Kaiser TM, Martin LF, Hatt J-M, Clauss M. Dental wear proxy correlation in a long-term feeding experiment on sheep (Ovis aries) (2021). Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 18, 20210139. doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0139
Clauss, M., Truempler, J., Ackermans, N. L., Kitchener, A. C., Hantke, G., Stagegaard, J., Takano, T., Shintaku, Y., Matsuda, I. Intraspecific Macroscopic digestive anatomy of ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), including a comparison of frozen and formalin-stored specimens (2020). Primates. doi.org/10.1007/s10329-020-00873-8
Ackermans, N. L., Martin, L. F., Codron, D., Hummel, J., Kircher, P. R., Richter, H., Kaiser, T. M., Clauss, M., Hatt, J.-M. Mesowear represents a lifetime signal in sheep (Ovis aries) within a long-term feeding experiment (2020). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 553:109793.
doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109793
Ackermans, N. L., Martin, L. F., Codron, D., Kircher, P. R., Richter, H., Clauss, M., Hatt, J-M. Confirmation of a wear-compensation mechanism in dental roots of ruminants (2020). The Anatomical Record (online). doi.org/10.1002/ar.24402
Ackermans, N. L. (2020). The history of mesowear: a review. PeerJ. 8, e8519. doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8519
Further publications on google scholar. PDFs provided upon request.
Nicole Ackermans, CVN lab 