Igor Ponomarev



Research Interests

If I had to summarize my research interests in a single word, it would be Neurogenomics. My current research focuses on two related questions: a) molecular mechanisms of alcohol addiction and b) molecular mechanisms of brain plasticity in response to genetic and pharmacological perturbations. To address these questions I use an interdisciplinary approach combining behavior genetics, functional genomics and cellular neuroscience. Research tools and techniques include genetic animal models, such as mouse inbred strains, “knock-out” and selectively bred mice, microarray technology and laser capture microdissection of brain tissue. My recently funded K01 grant focuses on the effects of genetic selection and voluntary alcohol drinking on global gene expression in specific brain regions and neuronal populations of mice selectively bred for high alcohol consumption.


Selected Publications

Mulligan MK, Ponomarev I, Boehm SL 2nd, Owen JA, Levin PS, Berman AE, Blednov YA, Crabbe JC, Williams RW, Miles MF and Bergeson SE, Alcohol Trait and Transcriptional Genomic Analysis of C57BL/6 Substrains, Genes, Brain and Behavior 7, 677-689, 2008

Ponomarev I, Maiya R, Harnett MT, Schafer GL, Ryabinin AE, Blednov YA, Morikawa H, Boehm II SL, Homanics GE, Berman A, Lodowski KH, Bergeson SE and Harris RA, Transcriptional signatures of cellular plasticity in mice lacking the alpha 1 subunit of GABAA receptors, The Journal of Neuroscience 26, 5673-5683, 2006

Mulligan MK, Ponomarev I, Hitzemann RJ, Belknap JK, Tabakoff B, Harris RA, Crabbe JC, Blednov YA, Grahame NJ, Phillips TJ, Finn DA, Hoffman PL, Iyer VR, Koob GF and Bergeson SE, Toward Understanding the Genetics of Alcohol Drinking Through Transcriptome Meta-analysis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103, 6368-6373, 2006

Ponomarev I, Schafer GL, Blednov YA, Williams RW, Iyer VR and Harris RA, Convergent analysis of cDNA and short oligomer microarrays, mouse null mutants, and bioinformatics resources to study complex traits., Genes, Brain and Behavior 3, 360-368, 2004

Ponomarev I and Crabbe JC, Characterization of acute functional tolerance to the hypnotic effects of ethanol in mice, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 28, 991-997, 2004

Ponomarev I and Crabbe JC, A novel method to assess initial sensitivity and acute functional tolerance to hypnotic effects of ethanol, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 302, 257-263, 2002

Igor Ponomarev

  • Research Assistant Professor
  • College of Pharmacy

Education


  • Ph.D., 2002
  • Oregon Health & Science University

Contact Info