People / Jacob Laboratory

Contact

Michele H. Jacob, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Office Phone: (617) 636-2429
Lab Phone: (617) 636-4082
Fax: (617) 636-2413
michele.jacob@tufts.edu

Search for recent publications by Michele H. Jacob

Research Interests

Nicotinic synapses: identifying in vivo molecular mechanisms that direct the targeting of receptors to synaptic sites in neurons and central sensory organs; defining the specific function of key synapse organizers by using targeted gene deletions and retroviral vector-mediated cDNA transfer to manipulate gene expression and selected protein interactions during synapse assembly.

Read more information about Jacob lab projects.

Lab Members

Madelaine Rosenberg, Research Associate Scientist
Fang Yang, Postdoctoral Associate
Jesse Mohn, Graduate Student in Anatomy and Cell Biology
Elizabeth Storer, Graduate Student in Neuroscience

Selected Publications

Levey, M.S., Brumwell, C.L., Dryer, S.E. and Jacob, M.H. (1995). Innervation and target tissue interactions differentially regulate acetylcholine receptor subunit transcript levels in developing neurons in situ. Neuron, 14:153-162.

Ikonomov, O.C. and Jacob, M.H. (1996). Differential display protocol with selected primers that preferentially isolates mRNAs of moderate-to-low abundance in a microscopic system. BioTechniques 20:1030-1042.

Levey, M.S. and Jacob, M.H. (1996). Changes in the regulatory effects of cell-cell interactions on neuronal AChR subunit transcript levels after synapse formation. J. Neurosci. 16:6878-6885.

Ikonomov, O.C. and Jacob, M.H. (1997). Differential display protocol that preferentially identifies mRNAs of moderate-to-low abundance in a microscopic system. In "Analysis of mRNA Formation and Function", (Joel Richter, ed.) Academic Press, pp. 371-383.

Ikonomov, O.C. and Jacob, M.H. (1998). Preferential identification of differentially expressed mRNAs of moderate to low abundance in a microscopic system by SPR. In "Gene Cloning and Analysis by RT-PCR", (Paul Siebert and James Larrick, eds.), Eaton Publ., pp. 171-181.

Ikonomov, O., Kulesa, M., Shisheva, A. and Jacob, M.H. (1998). Innervation and target tissue interactions induce Rab-GDP dissociation inhibitor (GDI) expression during peripheral synapse formation in developing chick ciliary ganglion neurons in situ. J. Neurosci. 18:6331-6339.

Williams, B., Temburni, M.K., Levey, M., Bertrand, D., Bertrand, S. and Jacob, M.H. (1998) The long internal loop of the a3 subunit targets nAChRs to subdomains within individual synapses on neurons in vivo. Nature Neurosci. 1:557-562.

Williams, B., Temburni, M.K., Bertrand, S., Bertrand, D. and Jacob, M.H. (1999) The long cytoplasmic loop of the a3 subunit targets specific nAChR subtypes to synapses on neurons in vivo. In “Molecular and Functional Diversity of Ion Channels and Receptors”, (Bernardo Rudy and Peter Seeburg, eds.) Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 868, pp. 640-644.

Tsen, G., Williams, B., Allaire, P., Zhou, Y.-D., Ikonomov, O., Kondova, I., and Jacob, M.H. (2000) Receptors with opposing functions are in postsynaptic microdomains under one presynaptic terminal. Nature Neurosci. 3:126-132.

Allaire, P., Ikonomov, O., Kulesa-Garrett M. and Jacob, M.H. (2000) Synaptic interactions regulate gephyrin expression in avian cholinergic neurons in vivo. Neuropharmacology (Special Conference Issue) 39: 2691-2698.

Temburni, M.K., Blitzblau, R. and Jacob, M.H. (2000) Receptor targeting and heterogeneity at interneuronal nicotinic cholinergic synapses in vivo. J. Physiol. 525.1:21-29.

Temburni, M.K. and Jacob, M.H. (2001) New functions for glia in the brain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 98: 3631-3632

Brumwell, C.L., Johnson J.L. and Jacob, M.H. (2002) Extrasynaptic a7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression in developing neurons is regulated by inputs, targets and activity. J. Neurosci. 22:8101-8109.

Rosenberg, M., Blitzblau, R., Olsen, D. and Jacob, M.H. (2002) Regulatory Mechanisms that Govern Nicotinic Synapse Formation in Neurons. J. Neurobiol. (Special Issue on Nicotinic Signaling) 53:542-555.

Wong, E.V., David, S., Jacob, M.H. and Jay D.G. (2003) Inactivation of myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) enhances optic nerve regeneration. J. Neurosci. 23:3112-3117.

Tosetti, P., Pathak, N., Jacob, M.H. and Dunlap, K. (2003) RGS3 mediates a calcium-dependent termination of G protein signaling in sensory neurons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 100: 7337-7342.

Temburni, M.K., Rosenberg, M., Pathak, N., McConnell and Jacob, M.H. (2004) Neuronal nicotinic synapse synapse assembly requires the adenomatous polyposis coli tumor suppressor protein. J. Neurosci.24: 6776-6784 (Faculty of 1000 "Best in Biology" paper).

Rassadi, S., Krishnaswamy, A., Pie, B., McConnell, R., Jacob, M.H., and Cooper, E. (2005) A null mutation for the a3 nicotinic acetlycholine (ACh) receptor gene abolishes fast synaptic activity in sympathetic ganglia and reveals that ACh output from developing preganglionic terminals is regulated in an activity-dependent retrograde manner. J. Neurosci. 25: 8555-8566 (Faculty of 1000 "Best in Biology" paper).

Olsen, D., Dunlap, K. and Jacob, M.H. (2007). Kainate receptors and RNA editing in cholinergic neurons. J. Neurochem. 101(2): 327-341.