Skyler Jackman, Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor, Vollum Institute
  • Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine
  • Assistant Scientist, Vollum Institute
  • Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine

Biography

After earning a B.A. in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley, Skyler Jackman performed research in nuclear physics at the 88" Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley Labs. He returned to the University of California at Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in Physics in 2009, and did his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Vollum Institute as assistant scientist in 2017. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience in the School of Medicine at OHSU.

Synaptic transmission is continuously modulated by various forms of short-term plasticity (STP). These activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength are thought to be crucial to brain function, and hypothesized to play roles in sensory processing, spatial navigation, and working memory. Deficits in STP are associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. However, until recently there was no way to manipulate STP, so our understanding of how STP affects circuit function is largely theoretical. Most forms of STP are driven by unknown presynaptic calcium sensors. Research in the Jackman lab is focused on identifying these calcium sensors and manipulating their expression in vivo in order to test how STP affects neural processing and animal behavior.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.A., 2001, University of California, Berkeley
    • Ph.D., 2009, University of California, Berkeley

Areas of interest

  • neurotransmitter release
  • short-term synaptic plasticity
  • neural circuits
  • presynaptic calcium sensors

Additional information

Honors and awards

  • Grass Fellowship, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA (2009)
  • David Hunter Hubel Postdoctoral Award, Harvard Medical School (2015)

Publications

Publications

  • Synaptotagmin-7 Counteracts Short-Term Depression during Phasic Dopamine Release

    eNeuro
    1. Joseph J. Lebowitz
    2. Sarah A. Kissiwaa
    3. Kim A. Engeln
    4. Anna M. Bowman
    5. John T. Williams
    6. Skyler L. Jackman

  • Synaptotagmins 3 and 7 mediate the majority of asynchronous release from synapses in the cerebellum and hippocampus

    Cell Reports
    1. Dennis J. Weingarten
    2. Amita Shrestha
    3. Daniel J. Orlin
    4. Chloé L. Le Moing
    5. Luke A. Borchardt
    6. Skyler L. Jackman

  • Fast resupply of synaptic vesicles requires synaptotagmin-3

    Nature
    1. Dennis J. Weingarten
    2. Amita Shrestha
    3. Kessa Juda-Nelson
    4. Sarah A. Kissiwaa
    5. Evan Spruston
    6. Skyler L. Jackman

  • Title

    eLife
    1. Skyler L. Jackman
    2. Christopher H. Chen
    3. Heather L. Offermann
    4. Iain R. Drew
    5. Bailey M. Harrison
    6. Anna M. Bowman
    7. Katelyn M. Flick
    8. Isabella Flaquer
    9. Wade G. Regehr

  • In Vivo Targeted Expression of Optogenetic Proteins Using Silk/AAV Films

    Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
    1. Skyler Jackman
    2. Christopher H. Chen
    3. Wade G. Regehr

  • Silk Fibroin Films Facilitate Single-Step Targeted Expression of Optogenetic Proteins

    Cell Reports
    1. Skyler L. Jackman
    2. Christopher H. Chen
    3. Selmaan N. Chettih
    4. Shay Q. Neufeld
    5. Iain R. Drew
    6. Chimuanya K. Agba
    7. Isabella Flaquer
    8. Alexis N. Stefano
    9. Thomas J. Kennedy
    10. Justine E. Belinsky
    11. Keiramarie Roberston
    12. Celia C. Beron
    13. Bernardo L. Sabatini
    14. Christopher D. Harvey
    15. Wade G. Regehr

  • Synaptotagmin 7 confers frequency invariance onto specialized depressing synapses

    Nature
    1. Josef Turecek
    2. Skyler L. Jackman
    3. Wade G. Regehr

  • Synaptic Specializations Support Frequency-Independent Purkinje Cell Output from the Cerebellar Cortex

    Cell Reports
    1. Josef Turecek
    2. Skyler L. Jackman
    3. Wade G. Regehr

  • The calcium sensor synaptotagmin 7 is required for synaptic facilitation

    Nature
    1. Skyler L. Jackman
    2. Josef Turecek
    3. Justine E. Belinsky
    4. Wade G. Regehr

  • Achieving high-frequency optical control of synaptic transmission

    Journal of Neuroscience
    1. Skyler L. Jackman
    2. Brandon M. Beneduce
    3. Iain R. Drew
    4. Wade G. Regehr

  • Regulation of presynaptic strength by controlling Ca 2+ channel mobility

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Aaron J. Mercer
    2. Robert J. Szalewski
    3. Skyler L. Jackman
    4. Matthew J. Van Hook
    5. Wallace B. Thoreson

  • A positive feedback synapse from retinal horizontal cells to cone photoreceptors

    PLoS Biology
    1. Skyler L. Jackman
    2. Norbert Babai
    3. James J. Chambers
    4. Wallace B. Thoreson
    5. Richard H. Kramer

  • Release from the cone ribbon synapse under bright light conditions can be controlled by the opening of only a few Ca 2+ channels

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Theodore M. Bartoletti
    2. Skyler L. Jackman
    3. Norbert Babai
    4. Aaron J. Mercer
    5. Richard H. Kramer
    6. Wallace B. Thoreson

  • Role of the synaptic ribbon in transmitting the cone light response

    Nature Neuroscience
    1. Skyler L. Jackman
    2. Sue Yeon Choi
    3. Wallace B. Thoreson
    4. Katalin Rabl
    5. Theodore M. Bartoletti
    6. Richard H. Kramer

  • Light regulation of Ca2+ in the cone photoreceptor synaptic terminal

    Visual neuroscience
    1. Sue Yeon Choi
    2. Skyler Jackman
    3. Wallace B. Thoreson
    4. Richard H. Kramer