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. Jackman 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.

Summary of current research

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. We need to identify these calcium sensors and manipulate their expression in vivo in order to test how STP affects neural processing and animal behavior.

We recently discovered that synaptotagmin 7 (Syt7) serves as the calcium sensor for facilitation, a ubiquitous form of plasticity that dramatically strengthens synapses for milliseconds to seconds. Syt7 knockout mice offer an unparalleled opportunity to evaluate the role of facilitation in the mammalian brain. To finally test how facilitation affects sensory processing and cognition, we are performing in vivo recordings and behavioral experiments after removing Syt7 from specific circuits.

There are many other forms of STP for which calcium sensors have yet to be identified. The Jackman lab will continue to search for other important calcium sensors using in vitro slice electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and optogenetics.

Selected publications

Weingarten DJ, Shrestha A, Orlin DJ, Le Moing CL, Borchardt LA, Jackman SL. Synaptotagmins 3 and 7 mediate the majority of asynchronous release from synapses in the cerebellum and hippocampus. Cell Reports. 2024 Aug 27;43(8).

Lebowitz JJ, Kissiwaa SA, Engeln KA, Bowman AM, Williams JT, Jackman SL. Synaptotagmin-7 counteracts short-term depression during phasic dopamine release. Eneuro. 2024 Mar 1;11(3).

Weingarten DJ, Shrestha A, Juda-Nelson K, Kissiwaa SA, Spruston E, Jackman SL. Fast resupply of synaptic vesicles requires synaptotagmin-3. Nature. 2022 Oct 19:1-6.

Jackman SL, Chen CH, Offermann HL, Drew IR, Harrison BM, Bowman AM, Flick KM, Flaquer I, Regehr WG. (2020) Cerebellar Purkinje cell activity modulates aggressive behavior. eLife 9:e53229.

Jackman SL, Chen CH, Regehr WG. (2019) In vivo targeted expression of optogenetic proteins using Silk/AAV films. J. Vis. Exp. Feb 26;(144) doi: 10.3791/58728.

Jackman S, von Gersdorff H. (2018) Blocking slow exocytosis with slow Ca²⁺ buffers slows recovery from depression. J. Physiol. 596(19):4555-4557.

MacDougall DD, Lin Z, Chon NL, Jackman SL, Lin H, Knight JD, Anantharam A. (2018) The high-affinity calcium sensor synaptotagmin-7 serves multiple roles in regulated exocytosis. J. Gen. Physiol. 150(6):783-807.

Jackman SL, Chen CH, Chettih SN, Neufeld SQ, Drew IR, Agba CK, Flaquer I, Stefano AN, Kennedy TJ, Belinsky JE, Roberston K, Beron CC, Sabatini BL, Harvey CD,  Regehr WG. (2018) Silk fibroin films facilitate single-step targeted expression of optogenetic proteins. Cell Reports 22(12):3351-3361.

Turecek J*, Jackman SL*, Regehr WG (2017). Synaptotagmin 7 confers frequency invariance onto specialized depressing synapses. Nature 551(7681):503-506. *contributed equally to this work

Jackman SL, Regehr WG, (2017) The mechanisms and functions of synaptic facilitation. Neuron 94(3):447-464.

Jackman SL, Turecek J, Belinsky JE, Regehr WG. (2016) The calcium sensor synaptotagmin 7 is required for synaptic facilitation. Nature 529(7584):88-91.

Jackman SL, Beneduce BM, Drew IR, Regehr WG. (2014) Achieving high-frequency optical control of synaptic transmission. J. Neuroscience 34(22):7704-7714.

• Preprint article

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