Education
MD – Russian State Medical University
PhD – Russian Academy of Sciences
Postdoctoral – University of Illinois at Chicago and Columbia University/HHMI
Honors and Awards
- 2025 BBRF (NARSAD) Distinguished Investigator Award
- 2023 Uytengsu-Hamilton 22q11 Neuropsychiatry Research Award, Stanford University
- 2021 Uytengsu-Hamilton 22q11 Neuropsychiatry Research Award, Stanford University
- 2015 BBRF (NARSAD) Independent Investigator Award
- 2006 Searle Scholars Award
- 2006 Whitehall Foundation Award
- 2004 BBRF (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award
- 2004 Hereditary Disease Foundation, Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 2004 Tourette Syndrome Association Award
- 2002 Charles E. Culpeper Pilot Initiative, Rockefeller Brother Fund Award
- 1997 Russian Foundation for Basic Science Award
- 1994 President of the Russian Federation Fellowship
Research Interests
- Learning and memory
- Synaptic transmission and plasticity
- Neuronal circuits and behavior
- Genetic models of schizophrenia, autism, and other neuropsychiatric diseases
Selected Publications
View all Zakharenko publications via NLM PubMed.
Eom TY, Schmitt JE, Li Y, Davenport CM, Steinberg J, Bonnan A, Alam S, Ryu YS, Paul L, Hansen BS, Khairy K, Pelletier S, Pruett-Miller SM, Roalf DR, Gur RE, Emanuel BS, McDonald-McGinn DM, Smith JN, Li C, Christie JM, Northcott PA, Zakharenko SS. Tbx1 haploinsufficiency leads to local skull deformity, paraflocculus and flocculus dysplasia, and motor-learning deficit in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Nature Communications Dec 5;15(1):10510, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54837-3. Highlighted in EurekAlert, MedicalXpress, Yahoo! and others.
Patton MH, Thomas KT, Bayazitov IT, Newman KD, Kurtz NB, Robinson CG, Ramirez CA, Trevisan AJ, Bikoff JB, Peters ST, Pruett-Miller SM, Jiang Y, Schild AB, Nityanandam A, Zakharenko SS. Synaptic plasticity in human thalamocortical assembloids. Cell Reports 2024 Jul 16;43(8):114503. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114503.
Bayazitov IT, Teubner BJW, Wu Z, Li Y, Blundon JA, Zakharenko SS. Sound-evoked adenosine release in cooperation with neuromodulatory circuits permits auditory cortical plasticity and perceptual learning. Cell Reports 43(2): 113758, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113758.
Davenport CM, Teubner BJW, Han SB, Chang T-C, Garic D, Patton MH, Eom T-Y, Lansdell BJ, Shirinifard A, Klein J, Pruett-Miller SM, Blundon JA, Zakharenko SS. Innate frequency-discrimination hyperacuity in Williams-Beuren syndrome mice. Cell 185(21): 3877-3895, 2022. Highlighted in Nature, EurekAlert and others.
Eom T-Y, Han SB, Kim J, Blundon J, Wang Y-D, Yu J, Anderson K, Kaminski DB, Sakurada SM, Pruett-Miller SM, Horner L, Wagner B, Robinson CG, Eicholtz M, Rose D, Zakharenko SS. Schizophrenia-related microdeletion causes defective ciliary motility and brain ventricle enlargement via microRNA-dependent mechanisms in mice. Nature Communications 11(1):912, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14628-y. Highlighted in Science Daily, EurekAlerts, MedicalXpress.
Patton MH, Blundon JA, Zakharenko SS. Rejuvenation of plasticity in the brain: opening the critical period. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 54:83-89, 2019.
Blundon JA, Roy NC, Teubner BJ, Yu J, Eom T-Y, Sample KJ, Pani A, Smeyne RJ, Han SB, Kerekes RA, Rose DC, Hackett TA, Vuppala PK, Freeman 3rd BB, Zakharenko SS. Restoring auditory cortical plasticity in adult mice by restricting thalamic adenosine signaling. Science 356(6345):1352-1356, 2017. Highlighted in Science 356(6345):1335-1336, Science Daily, Scientific American, Daily Mail, Wall Street Journal, and others.
Chun S, Du F, Westmoreland JJ, Han SB, Wang Y-D, Eddins D, Bayazitov IT, Devaraju P, Yu J, Mellado Lagarde MM, Anderson K, Zakharenko SS. Thalamic miR-338-3p mediates thalamocortical disruption and its late onset in 22q11 deletion syndrome models. Nature Medicine, (23)1:39-48, 2017. Highlighted in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Forbes Magazine, Schizophrenia Research Forum, and others.
Eom T-Y, Bayazitov IT, Anderson K, Yu J, Zakharenko SS. Schizophrenia-related microdeletion impairs emotional memory through microRNA-dependent disruption of thalamic Inputs to the amygdala. Cell Reports 19(8):1532-1544, 2017.
Devaraju P, Yu J, Eddins D, Mellado Lagarde MM, Earls LR, Westmoreland JJ, Quarato G, Green DR, Zakharenko SS. Haploinsufficiency of the 22q11.2-microdeletion gene Mrpl40 disrupts short-term synaptic plasticity and working memory through deregulation of mitochondrial calcium. Molecular Psychiatry 22:1313-1326, 2016. doi:10.1038/mp.2016.75.
Chun S, Westmoreland JJ, Bayazitov IT, Eddins D, Pani AK, Smeyne RJ, Yu J, Blundon JA, Zakharenko SS. Specific disruption of thalamic inputs to the auditory cortex in schizophrenia models. Science 344(6188):1178-82, 2014. *Selected by the Faculty of 1000.
Earls L.R., Zakharenko S.S. A synaptic function approach to investigating complex psychiatric diseases. The Neuroscientist, 20(3):257-271, 2013.
Blundon JA, Zakharenko SS. Presynaptic gating of postsynaptic plasticity: a plasticity filter in the adult auditory cortex. The Neuroscientist 19(5):465-78, 2013.
Earls LR, Fricke RG, Yu J, Berry RB, Baldwin L, Zakharenko SS. Age-dependent microRNA control of synaptic plasticity in 22q11 deletion syndrome and schizophrenia. Journal of Neuroscience 32(41):14132-14144, 2012. *Selected by the Faculty of 1000.
Earls LR, Bayazitov IT, Fricke RG, Berry RB, Illingworth E, Mittleman G, Zakharenko SS. Dysregulation of presynaptic calcium, synaptic plasticity and spatial memory in a mouse model of 22q11 deletion syndrome. Journal of Neuroscience 30(47):15843-15855, 2010. *Selected by the Faculty of 1000.
Richardson RJ, Blundon JA, Bayazitov IT, Zakharenko SS. Connectivity patterns revealed by mapping of active inputs on dendrites of thalamorecipient neurons in the auditory cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 29(20):6406-6417, 2009. *Selected by the Faculty of 1000.
Blundon JA, Zakharenko SS. Dissecting the components of long-term potentiation. The Neuroscientist 14(6):598-608, 2008.
Last update: December 2024