Jeffrey Zahratka

Dr. Jeffrey Zahratka earned a doctorate in cell and molecular biology at the University of Toledo and also completed postdoctoral research at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. His teaching responsibilities include courses in non-majors biology, bioinformatics and genomics, principles of neuroscience, and neurophysiology, and he mentors students in undergraduate research. Zahratka’s research is focused on the sensory modulation of behavior — how animals interact with their environments based on their genetic makeup, past experience and nutritional state — using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism. To perform this research, he uses techniques including behavioral assays, molecular biology, generation of transgenic animals, optical imaging, electrophysiology and bioinformatics. In addition to behavior, Zahratka is also interested in the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease, activity-driven gene expression in the brain, and other projects overlapping with student interest.

Publications

Zahratka J, Shao Y, Shaw M, Todd K, Formica S, Khrestian M, Montine T, Leverenz J, and Bekris L. (2017) Regulatory region genetic variation is associated with FYN expression in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiology of Aging 51: 43-53.

Zahratka JA, Williams PD, Summers PJ, Komuniecki RW, and Bamber BA. (2014) Serotonin differentially modulates Ca2+ transients and depolarization in a C. elegans nociceptor. Journal of Neurophysiology 113(4): 1041-1050.

Mills H, Wragg R, Hapiak V, Castelletto M, Zahratka J, Harris G, Summers P, Korchnak A, Law W, Bamber B, and Komuniecki, R. (2012) Monoamines and neuropeptides interact to inhibit aversive behaviour in Caenorhabditis elegans. The EMBO Journal 31(3): 667-678.

Abstracts

Zahratka J, Shao Y, Shaw M, Todd K, Formica S, Khrestian M, Montine T, Leverenz J, and Bekris L. (2016) FYN expression is associated with regulatory region genetic variation in Alzheimer’s disease. Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience 2016

Annual Meeting, November 12 – 16, San Diego, CA. Zahratka J, Shao Y, Shaw M, Todd K, Formica S, Khrestian M, Montine T, Leverenz J, and Bekris L. (2016) Regulatory region genetic variation affects Fyn expression in Alzheimer’s disease. Main session presentation and poster presented at “Genetics and Genomics: Advances across the Lifespan” clinical symposium, September 15, Cleveland, OH. Zahratka J, Shao Y, Shaw M, Todd K, Khrestian M, Montine T, Leverenz J, and Bekris L. (2016) FYN regulatory region genetic variation and Alzheimer’s disease. Poster presented at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, July 22 – 28, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Zahratka JA, Komuniecki RW, Williams PD, and Bamber BA. (2013) Multiple independent calcium pools in a nociceptive neuron in C. elegans. Parallel session presentation presented at the International C. elegans Meeting, June 29, Los Angeles, CA.