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Konstantinos S. Zarbalis, Ph.D.
Professor in Residence
Locations and Contact
Research/Academic Interests
Our laboratory focuses on developmental neuroscience with a focus on the mechanisms that guide the migration, differentiation, and connectivity of cortical neurons. We use different model systems and both in vitro and in vivo approaches to study genetic and environmental insults that can disrupt cortical histogenesis and in humans may cause neurodevelopmental disorders. Current projects investigate the effects of autism risk genes and micronutrients on prenatal brain development.
Other School
M.S., Technical University Munich, Munich Germany 1995
Other School
Ph.D., Technical University Munich, Munich Germany 2000
Fellowship
Postdoctoral Training, UC San Francisco, San Francisco CA 2001-2008
Tat L, Canizzarro N, Schaaf Z, Racherla S, Bottiglieri T, Green R*, Zarbalis KS*. Prenatal folic acid and vitamin B12 imbalance alter neuronal morphology and synaptic density in the mouse neocortex. Comm. Biol. 6, 1133 (2023). doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05492-9.
Schaaf Z, Cannizzaro N, Tat L, Green R, Rülicke T, Hippenmeyer H, Zarbalis KS. WDFY3 mutation alters laminar position and morphology of cortical neurons. Mol. Autism. 13 (2022).
Harlan De Crescenzo A, Panoutsopoulos A, Tat L, Schaaf Z, Racherla S, Henderson L, Leung K, Greene NDE, Green R*, Zarbalis KS* Deficient or excess folic acid supply during pregnancy alter cortical neurodevelopment in mouse offspring. Cereb. Cortex (2021). 31(1):635-649. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa248.
Le Duc D, Giulivi C, Hiatt SM, Napoli E, Panoutsopoulos A, De Crescenzo A, Kotzaeridou U, Syrbe S, Anagnostou E, Azage M, Bend R, Begtrup A, Brown NJ, Büttner B, Cho M, Cooper M, Doering JH, Dubourg C, Everman DB, Hildebrand MS, SantoS FJR, Kellam B, Keller-Ramey J, Lemke JR, Liu S, Niyazov D, Payne K, Person R, Quélin C, Roberts W, Schnur RE, Smith BT, Strober J, Szatmari P, Walker S, Wallis M, Walsh L, Yang S, Yuen R, Ziegler A, Sticht H, Pride MC, Orosco L, Martínez-Cerdeño V, Silverman J, Crawley JN, Scherer SW, Zarbalis KS*, Jamra R.* Pathogenic WDFY3 variants cause neurodevelopmental disorders associated with macro- and microcephaly. Brain (2019). doi:10.1093/brain/awz198.
Napoli E, Song G, Panoutsopoulos A, Riyadh MA, Kaushik G, Halmai J, Levenson R, Zarbalis KS*, Giulivi C.* Beyond autophagy: novel role of the autism-linked Wdfy3 gene in brain mitophagy. Sci Rep. (2018) Jul 27;8(1):11348. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-29421-7.
Gompers AS, Su-Feher L, Ellegood J, Copping NA, Riyadh MA, Stradleigh TW, Pride MC, Schaffler MD, Wade AA, Catta-Preta R, Zdilar I, Louis S, Kaushik G, Mannion B, Plajzer-Frick I, Afzal V, Visel A, Pennacchio L, Dickel D, Lerch JP, Crawley JN, Zarbalis KS, Silverman JL, Nord AS. Germline Chd8 haploinsufficiency alters brain development in mouse. Nat. Neurosci. (2017). doi: 10.1038/nn.4592.
Sohn J, Orosco LA, Guo F, Chung SH, Bannerman P, Mills Ko E, Zarbalis KS, Deng W, Pleasure D. The subventricular zone continues to generate corpus callosum and rostral migratory stream astroglia in normal adult mice. J. Neurosci. 35(9) (2015) 3756-3763. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3454-14.2015.
Orosco LA, Ross AP, Cates SL, Scott SE, Wu D, Sohn J, Pleasure D, Pleasure SJ, Adamopoulos IE, Zarbalis KS. Loss of Wdfy3 in mice alters cerebral cortical neurogenesis reflecting aspects of the autism pathology. Nat. Commun. 5:4692. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5692. (2014).
Wizenmann A, Brunet I, Lam J, Sonnier L, Beurdeley M, Zarbalis K, Weisenhorn-Vogt D, Weinl C, Dwivedy A, Joliot A, Holt C, Wurst W9, Prochiantz A. Extracellular Engrailed participates in the topographic guidance of retinal axons in vivo. Neuron 64. (2009) 355-366.
Siegenthaler JA, Ashique AM*, Zarbalis K*, Patterson KP, Hecht JH, Kane MA, Folias AE, Choe Y, May SR, Kume T, Napoli JL, Peterson AS, Pleasure SJ. Retinoic acid from the meninges regulates cortical neuron generation. Cell 139 (2009) 597-609.