PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Ephraim F. Trakhtenberg, M.S., Ph.D., is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Neuroscience. He received an M.S. in biological sciences from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and did a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital.
During his doctoral and post-doctoral work under the mentorship of Jeffrey Goldberg, M.D.,Ph.D., and Larry Benowitz, Ph.D., Dr. Trakhtenberg has discovered (1) how Set-β and PP2A proteins regulate axon growth and regeneration, (2) the role of Serotonin Receptor 2C in neurite growth and modulating retinal processing of visual information, and (3) that inhibition of the transcription factor Klf9 acts synergistically with zinc chelation in stimulating axon regeneration. In addition, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School Research Computing Team he developed a bioinformatic approach for studying global properties of the transcriptome. This work led to the discovery (4) how global parameters of the transcriptome, such as the proportion of highly expressed genes, differ between various cell types.
After establishing his lab at the UConn Health, Dr. Trakhtenberg has discovered (5) that the extent of non-atrophic extra-axonal tissue damage determines the success of experimental axon regeneration stimulated by targeting neuronal intrinsic mechanisms, and identified some of the associated molecular mechanisms. He also (6) classified retinal ganglion cells into subtypes using single cell transcriptomics, made several discoveries related to cellular subtypes biology, and provided scientific community with RGC Subtypes Gene Browser for studying gene networks and pathways in RGC subtypes.
Dr. Trakhtenberg's discoveries have been published in high quality peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Developmental Neurobiology, Scientific Reports, Experimental Neurology, and Nature Communications. He is a reviewer for a number of international journals such as Neuropharmacology, PlosOne, IOVS, JNR, Scientific Reports, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Nature Communications, and Nature Medicine, and also served on grant review study sections for the NIH Special Emphasis Panel, DoD Vision Research, and NASA Space Biology programs. Dr. Trakhtenberg's research accomplishments have been recognized through pre- and post-doctoral fellowship awards, junior investigators and travel awards, Lois Pope Best Research Award, and other research awards. In 2017 Dr. Trakhtenberg was selected by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development to participate at the Interstellar Initiative for “the world's most promising Early Career Investigators”, where along with a collaborator, Dr. Kumiko Hayashi, they won 1st Place Award for a research solution proposal in the field of neuroscience. He also was awarded research grants by the BrightFocus Foundation, the Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (IBaCS), the Program in Innovative Therapeutics for Connecticut’s Health (PITCH), the National Institutes of Health (NIH-NEI), and other agencies.
Link to the Neuroscience Graduate Program faculty profile
LAB, JUNE 2019
Bruce Rheaume, B.S.
M.D./Ph.D. Graduate student
Mahit Gupta
Undergraduate Student (SURF & IBaCS Awards)
Matthew Frost, B.S.
Ph.D. Graduate student
Graduate Student
William Theune, B.S.
Ph.D. Graduate student