Rosalind Ridley

Rosalind Mary Ridley was born in Coventry, UK and educated at Barr's Hill Grammar School, Coventry and Newnham College, Cambridge University (1968-71), where she read Natural Sciences (biological), majoring in Psychology.{{cite web |title=Fellows' Biographies |url=https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/person/dr-rosalind-ridley/ |website=Newnham College Website |accessdate=16 December 2019}} She obtained her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, London under the supervision of George Ettlinger.{{cite thesis |degree=Ph.D.|last1=Ridley |first1=R. M |title=Responsiveness of units in part of inferotemporal and foveal prestriate cortex of the monkey during visual discrimination performance |date=1977 |publisher=University of London, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry |oclc=1027306891 |language=English}} In 1977, she joined the Clinical Research Centre, Division of Psychiatry at Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, London.{{cite journal |last1=Crow |first1=T. J. |title=Clinical Research Centre Division of Psychiatry 1974–1977 |journal=Psychological Medicine |date=9 July 2009 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=515–523 |doi=10.1017/S0033291700016238|pmid=704717 }}

Ridley's research career started with an investigation into cortical mechanisms of visual perception{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/18229915 |title=Perceptual fading of a stabilized cortical image, Nature 1971 }} followed by the delineation of the cortical areas involved in somatosensory discrimination learning.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/21994771 |title=Tactile and visuo-spatial discrimination performance in the monkey, Brain Research 1976 }} Her early career involved work on the role of dopamine in cognitive perseveration and motor stereotypy,{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/16415617 |title=An involvement of dopamine in higher order choice mechanisms in the monkey, Psychopharmacology 1981 }} but her interests then extended to the role of the hippocampus in simple and conditional learning.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15524326 |title=Learning and memory impairments following lesion of the hippocampus, Neuroscience 1995}} Much of her research effort was directed towards developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14295489 |title=5-HT1A antagonist ameliorates cognitive impairment, Psychopharmacology 1996 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8057614 |title=neurotrophic factor delivery provides neuroprotection, J Neuroscience 2005 }}{{ cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13660504 |title=Integration of striatal allografts in a primate model of Huntington's disease, Nature Medicine 1998 }} She and her research collaborators demonstrated that acetylcholine was crucial for various types of memory formation{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20645049 |title=Learning impaired following cholinergic lesions, Brain Research 1989 }} and established that transplantation of neural tissue into the brain could restore memory and learning ability.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12720513 |title=Cell grafts restore learning, Brain 1999 }} She also maintained an interest in the genetics of neurodegenerative diseases.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20183100 |title=Anticipation in Huntington's Disease, J Medical Genetics 1988 }}

Ridley was involved in early work on transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (subsequently known as prion disease), particularly in the recognition that individual cases of human prion disease could be sporadic, familial or acquired{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/19200986 |title=Transmissible and non-transmissible dementia, Psychological Medicine 1986 }} and that familial cases were associated with mutations in the prion protein gene.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/19236106 |title=Transmission of an autosomal dominant spongiform encephalopathy, British Medical Journal 1985 }} She demonstrated the transmissibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie to primates{{cite journal |url=http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/132/16/403 |title=Transmission of BSE and scrapie, Veterinary Record 1993 |journal=Veterinary Record |date=17 April 1993 |volume=132 |issue=16 |pages=403–406 |last1=Baker |first1=H. |last2=Ridley |first2=R. |last3=Wells |first3=G. |doi=10.1136/vr.132.16.403 |url-access=subscription }} and argued that the evidence for BSE and scrapie being acquired by maternal transmission was also compatible with genetic susceptibility to disease.{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15617802 |title=The myth of maternal transmission, British Medical Journal 1995 }} In experiments using data extending over 25 years, she demonstrated that the amyloid proteins found in Alzheimer's disease were self-assembling and experimentally transmissible, establishing a link in pathogenesis between prion diseases and the other neurodegenerative proteinopathies{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7407229 |title=Very long term studies, J Neural Transmission 2006 }}

Ridley's current research lies in aspects of cognitive psychology to be found in late nineteenth and early twentieth century books for children, especially the works of J. M. Barrie.{{cite web |title=Fellows' Biographies |url=https://www.newn.cam.ac.uk/person/dr-rosalind-ridley/ |website=Newnham College website |accessdate=16 December 2019}}

In 1981, Ridley married her colleague Harry Baker.{{cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/view/harry-baker/home|title=Harry Baker's web page|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=sJYCpp1ln34oUUa9BRs%2BAQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=13 January 2018| work=FreeBMD| publisher=ONS}} She is a member of the Cambridge Drawing Society{{cite web |url=http://cambridgedrawingsociety.org/ |title=Cambridge Drawing Society}} and the Cambridge District Art Circle{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/cambridgedistrictartcircle/ |title=Cambridge District Art Circle}}

• Fatal Protein. The story of CJD, BSE and other prion diseases (1998) Ridley, R. M. and Baker, H. F. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0 19 852435 8}}{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/fatalproteinstor0000ridl |url-access=registration |title=Fatal Protein|year=1998 |via=Internet Archive |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
• Prion Diseases (1996) Baker, H. F. and Ridley, R. M. Eds. Humana Press Inc., Totowa, New Jersey. {{ISBN|0896033422}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ph0gAQAAIAAJ |title=Prion Diseases|isbn=9780198524359|last1=Ridley|first1=Rosalind M.|last2=Baker|first2=Harry F.|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press }}
• Peter Pan and the Mind of J. M. Barrie. An Exploration of Cognition and Consciousness (2016) Ridley, R. M. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-4438-9107-3}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cambridgescholars.com/peter-pan-and-the-mind-of-j-m-barrie |title=Peter Pan and the Mind of J. M. Barrie.|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing}}

{{reflist|33em}}

• {{ResearchGate|Rosalind_Ridley}}
• [https://sites.google.com/view/rosalindridley/home Website: https://sites.google.com/view/rosalindridley/home]

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Category:1949 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge

Category:British women psychologists