School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences - The University of Texas at Dallas

ploskilab > cv

 

Jonathan E. Ploski, PhD

Assistant Professor

 

School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences; Cognition and Neuroscience Program

Department of Molecular & Cell Biology

University of Texas at Dallas

800 W. Campbell Rd., GR 41

Richardson, TX 75080-3021

 

Phone: (972) 883-2014

Jonathan.Ploski@utdallas.edu

 

 

Area of Study: Molecular and Biochemical Basis of Emotional Learning and Memory

 

 

Overview of Education/Training	Peer-Reviewed Publications
Education	Conference Abstracts
Research Training	Additional Professional Experience
Teaching Experience	Technical Expertise
Grant/Fellowship Funding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION/TRAINING

INSTITUTION AND LOCATION	DEGREE (if applicable)	YEAR(s)	FIELD OF STUDY
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY	BS	5/98	Biological Sciences
Mount Sinai School of Med., NY, NY	PhD	7/04	Biomedical Science
Yale Med. School, New Haven, CT	Post-doc	7/04-8/06	Molecular Psychiatry
Yale University, New Haven, CT	Post-doc	9/06-3/09	Behavioral Neuroscience

 

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EDUCATION

Mount Sinai School of Medicine of NYU PhD Biomedical Science	New York NY	2004
Dissertation: The Nucleocytoplasmic Trafficking of Paired-type and Divergent Homeodomain Proteins
University at Buffalo	Buffalo NY	1998
BS Biological Sciences

 

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RESEARCH TRAINING

Associate Research Scientist Postdoctoral Fellow	4/2009-5/2010 9/2006-3/2009
Yale University Department of Psychology, New Haven CT Advisor: Glenn E. Schafe, PhD
Area of Study: Emotional Learning and Memory
Examined the molecular and cellular basis of acquired fears focusing on the role of activity dependent gene expression within the amygdala during fear memory consolidation. Utilized a variety of behavioral and molecular biological techniques to identify genes involved in fear memory formation. Identified novel genes associated with long-term potentiation and Pavlovian fear conditioning Identified the proteins Arc/Arg3.1 and Npas4 as essential for fear memory consolidation within the amygdala
Postdoctoral Fellow	7/2004–8/2006
Yale University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, New Haven CT Advisor: Ronald S. Duman, PhD
Area of Study: Molecular Basis of Antidepressant Response
Examined antidepressant-induced gene expression changes in the rodent brain from discrete laser microdissected portions of the hippocampus utilizing DNA microarray technology. Identified gene expression profile differences among individual laser microdissected amygdala nuclei, brain structures involved in emotional regulation and fear learning, utilizing DNA microarray technology.
Graduate Student	9/1998–7/2004
Mount Sinai School of Medicine of NYU Department of Gene and Cell Medicine, New York NY Advisor: Aurelian Radu, PhD
Area of Study: Nucleocytoplasmic Transport of Macromolecules
Determined and characterized novel nucleocytoplasmic transport pathways for multiple karyopherins using in vivo and in vitro approaches Characterized a novel nuclear localization sequence that specifically targets a particular family of homeodomain-containing proteins to the nucleus Investigated whether naturally occurring mutations located within a newly identified NLS disrupt nuclear import and contribute to the diseases with which these mutations are associated
Research Assistant	6/1997–7/1998
Roswell Park Cancer Institute Department of Cancer Genetics, Buffalo NY Advisor: Peter Aplan, MD
Area of Study: Molecular Genetics of Pediatric Leukemia
Characterized the breakpoints that occur in the t(12;21)(p13;q22) translocation frequently associated with pre-B cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Investigated the DNA fragmentation events that occur following cytotoxic chemotherapy in leukemic cell lines

 

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor
University of Texas at Dallas, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Richardson, TX
Seminar in Molecular Neuroscience NSC4V90.001.12S	Spring 2012
Neuroscience Lab Methods	Spring 2012
Seminar in Molecular Neuroscience HCS 7372.001	Spring 2011
Neuroscience Laboratory Methods NSC 4353.001.11F	Fall 2011
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Quinnipiac University, Departments of Psychology & Biological Sciences, Hamden CT
Lecturer for Physiological Psychology 252	Spring 2010
Lecturer for Introduction to Psychology 101	Spring 2010
Lecturer for Physiological Psychology 252	Fall 2009
Lecturer for Physiological Psychology 252	Spring 2009
Lecturer for Brain & Behavior 351	Fall 2008
Instructor for two sections of Biology Laboratory 101	Fall 2008
Lecturer for Abnormal Psychology 272	Spring 2008
Instructor for three sections of Biology Laboratory 105	Fall 2007
Summer Undergraduate Research Program Mentor	Summer 2001
Mount Sinai School of Medicine of NYU, New York NY	Summer 2002
Trained two students in molecular, cellular, and biochemical techniques while supervising them during their summer research projects
Instructor	Spring 1997
University at Buffalo, Department of Biological Sciences, Buffalo NY
Instructor for two sections of Biology Laboratory 121

 

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GRANT/FELLOWSHIP FUNDING

National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship	2007
Grant Number: 1F32MH079560-01A2 Project Title: Role of Orphan Nuclear Receptor Nurr1 in Fear Conditioning

 

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PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

 

Ploski JE, Monsey MS, Nguyen T, Dileone RJ, Schafe GE (2011) The neuronal PAS domain protein 4 (Npas4) is required for new and reactivated fear memories. PLoS One. 6(8):e23760. Epub 2011 Aug 22.

 

Overeem KA, Ota KT, Monsey MS, Ploski JE, Schafe GE (2010) A role for nitric oxide-driven retrograde signaling in the consolidation of a fear memory. Front Behav Neurosci 4:2.

 

Ploski JE, Park KW, Ping J, Monsey MS, Schafe GE (2010) Identification of plasticity-associated genes regulated by Pavlovian fear conditioning in the lateral amygdala. J Neurochem 112:636-650.

 

Ploski JE, Topisirovic I, Park KW, Borden KL, Radu A (2009) A mechanism of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking for the homeodomain protein PRH. Mol Cell Biochem 332:173-181.

 

Ploski JE, Pierre VJ, Smucny J, Park K, Monsey MS, Overeem KA, Schafe GE (2008) The activity-regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein (Arc/Arg3.1) is required for memory consolidation of pavlovian fear conditioning in the lateral amygdala. J Neurosci 28:12383-12395.

 

Ota KT, Pierre VJ, Ploski JE, Queen K, Schafe GE (2008) The NO-cGMP-PKG signaling pathway regulates synaptic plasticity and fear memory consolidation in the lateral amygdala via activation of ERK/MAP kinase. Learn Mem 15:792-805.

 

Gourley SL, Wu FJ, Kiraly DD, Ploski JE, Kedves AT, Duman RS, Taylor JR (2008) Regionally specific regulation of ERK MAP kinase in a model of antidepressant-sensitive chronic depression. Biol Psychiatry 63:353-359.

 

Ploski JE, Newton SS, Duman RS (2006) Electroconvulsive seizure-induced gene expression profile of the hippocampus dentate gyrus granule cell layer. J Neurochem 99:1122-1132.

 

Ploski JE, Shamsher MK, Radu A (2004) Paired-type homeodomain transcription factors are imported into the nucleus by karyopherin 13. Mol Cell Biol 24:4824-4834.

 

Hristescu G, Kirschner M, Ploski JE, and Radu A (2004) The Human Genome Contains Numerous Clusters of Adjacent Co-regulated Genes. International Conference on Mathematics and Engineering Techniques in Medicine and Biological Sciences. 300-306.

 

Shamsher MK, Ploski J, Radu A (2002) Karyopherin beta 2B participates in mRNA export from the nucleus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99:14195-14199.

 

Ploski JE, Aplan PD (2001) Characterization of DNA fragmentation events caused by genotoxic and non-genotoxic agents. Mutat Res 473:169-180.

 

Thandla SP, Ploski JE, Raza-Egilmez SZ, Chhalliyil PP, Block AW, de Jong PJ, Aplan PD (1999) ETV6-AML1 translocation breakpoints cluster near a purine/pyrimidine repeat region in the ETV6 gene. Blood 93:293-299.

 

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CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS (Selected)

 

Ploski JE, Nguyen T, Monsey MS, Dileone RJ, Schafe GE A role for Npas4 in amygdala dependent emotional learning. Program No. 608.1. 2010 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2010.

 

Ploski JE, Park K, Schafe GE, Identification of genes induced by fear conditioning in the lateral amygdala. Program No. 294.7. Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2008.

 

Ploski JE, Schafe GE, Gene expression analysis of long-term potentiation in the lateral amygdala.  Program No. 91.8. Neuroscience Meeting Planner. San Diego, CA: Society for Neuroscience, 2007.

 

Ploski JE, Newton SS, Duman RS, Differential gene expression between amygdala subnuclei. Program No. 291.10.  Atlanta, GA: Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, 2006.

 

Ploski JE, Duman RS, Sathyanesan SN, Antidepressant-Induced gene expression changes in the hippocampal subfields – Feasibility of laser microdissection and RNA amplification. Program No. 915.4.  Washington, DC: Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, 2005.

 

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ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Manuscript Reviewer
Reviewed papers for the journals:
Behavioral Brain Research Genomics Journal of Biological Chemistry Journal of Neuroscience Neural Plasticity

 

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TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

Protein Biochemistry:
Purification and manipulation of recombinant proteins, protein interaction studies via pull down assays and co-immunoprecipitation
Molecular Biology:
Southern, northern, western blotting, cDNA and genomic DNA cloning and subcloning, transformations, PCR, qRT-PCR, primer design, point and deletional mutagenesis, yeast 2-hybrid system, DNA sequencing, restriction mapping, plasmid and genomic DNA and RNA purification, CHEF gel electrophoresis and FIGE, phage genomic library construction and screening, in vitro transcription/translation, cDNA synthesis, cloning/subclonining DNA, microarrays, in situ hybridization, RNA amplification, Adeno-Associated virus and Lentivirus production
Cell Biology:
Cell culture, transient and stable transfections, fluorescence and phase contrast microscopy, siRNA gene knockdown
Behavioral/Surgical:
Stereotaxic survival surgery, cannulation, Pavlovian fear conditioning investigating mechanisms of short and long term memory formation (consolidation and reconsolidation mechanisms), in vivo LTP induction, brain microdissections, in vivo gene knockdown, open field and elevated plus maze anxiety/innate fear tests

 

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