Publications

2026

Chatterjee UR, Cahill ME.  P744. Mechanistic and translational roles of PTPRG: prefrontal knockdown drives behavioral activation phenotypes in mice and reveals sex-specific alterations in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2026 Jan;51(Suppl 1):410-571. doi: 10.1038/s41386-025-02281-2. PMID: 41507446; PMCID: PMC12783840.

2025

Bjornson KJ, Cahill ME. The Mechanisms by Which RhoA Activity and Associated Synaptic Effects Are Controlled by the DISC1 Scaffolding-Like Protein. Biological Psychiatry. 2025 Dec 6:S0006-3223(25)01671-3. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.11.022. PMID: 41360176; PMCID: PMC12817885.

Chatterjee UR, Schumer MC, Effinger DP, Jones N, Vest NA, Cahill ME, Staglin BK, Nestler EJ. Breaking barriers: centering researchers with lived experience in psychiatric neuroscience. NPP Digit Psychiatry Neurosci. 2025 Nov 13;3:26. doi: 10.1038/s44277-025-00048-7. PMID: 41245664; PMCID: PMC12615256.

Bjornson KJ, Kermath BA, Cahill ME. Identification of ARHGEF11 (PDZ-RhoGEF) as an in vivo regulator of synapses and cognition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jan 28;122(4):e2415316122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2415316122. Epub 2025 Jan 21. PMID: 39835891.

2024

Bjornson KJ, Vanderplow AM, Bhasker AI, Cahill ME. Increased regional activity of a pro-autophagy pathway in schizophrenia as a contributor to sex differences in the disease pathology. Cell Reports Medicine. 2024 Jul 16;5(7):101652. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101652. PMID: 39019008; PMCID: PMC11293356.

Bjornson KJ, Cahill ME. Assessing protein distribution and dendritic spine morphology relationships using structured illumination microscopy in cultured neurons. STAR Protocols. 2024 Jan 16;5(1):102829. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102829. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38236769; PMCID: PMC10827590.

Full paper

2023

Bjornson KJ, Vanderplow AM, Yang Y, Anderson DR, Kermath BA, Cahill ME. Stress-mediated dysregulation of the Rap1 small GTPase impairs hippocampal structure and function. iScience. 2023 Aug 7;26(9):107566. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107566. PMID: 37664580; PMCID: PMC10470260.

Full paper

2022

Vanderplow AM, Kermath BA, Bernhardt CR, Gums KT, Seablom EN, Radcliff AB, Ewald AC, Jones MV, Baker TL, Watters JJ, Cahill ME. A feature of maternal sleep apnea during gestation causes autism-relevant neuronal and behavioral phenotypes in offspring. PLoS Biology. 2022 Feb 3;20(2):e3001502. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001502. PMID: 35113852; PMCID: PMC8812875.

2021

Kermath BA, Vanderplow AM, Bjornson KJ, Seablom EN, Novak AM, Bernhardt CR, Cahill ME. The Rap1 small GTPase is a critical mediator of the effects of stress on prefrontal cortical dysfunction. Molecular Psychiatry. 2021 Jul;26(7):3223-3239. doi: 10.1038/s41380-020-0835-0. Epub 2020 Jul 10. PMID: 32651478.

Vanderplow AM, Eagle AL, Kermath BA, Bjornson KJ, Robison AJ, Cahill ME. Akt-mTOR hypoactivity in bipolar disorder gives rise to cognitive impairments associated with altered neuronal structure and function. Neuron. 2021 May 5;109(9):1479-1496.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.03.008. Epub 2021 Mar 24. PMID: 33765445; PMCID: PMC8105282.

Full paper

2020

Kermath BA, Vanderplow AM, Cahill ME. Dysregulated Prefrontal Cortical RhoA Signal Transduction in Bipolar Disorder with Psychosis: New Implications for Disease Pathophysiology. Cerebral Cortex. 2020 Jan 10;30(1):59-71. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhz070. PMID: 31220216.

Full paper

2019

Calipari ES, Godino A, Salery M, Damez-Werno DM, Cahill ME, Werner CT, Gancarz AM, Peck EG, Jlayer Z, Rabkin J, Landry JA, Smith ACW, Defilippi P, Kenny PJ, Hurd YL, Neve RL, Dietz DM, Nestler EJ. Synaptic Microtubule-Associated Protein EB3 and SRC Phosphorylation Mediate Structural and Behavioral Adaptations During Withdrawal From Cocaine Self-Administration. J Neurosci. 2019 Jul 17;39(29):5634-5646. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0024-19.2019. Epub 2019 May 15. PMID: 31092585; PMCID: PMC6636087.

Full paper

Kiernan EA, Wang T, Vanderplow AM, Cherukuri S, Cahill ME, Watters JJ. Neonatal Intermittent Hypoxia Induces Lasting Sex-Specific Augmentation of Rat Microglial Cytokine Expression. Front Immunol. 2019 Jul 2;10:1479. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01479. PMID: 31333645; PMCID: PMC6615134.

Xie Z, Shapiro LP, Cahill ME, Russell TA, Lacor PN, Klein WL, Penzes P. Kalirin-7 prevents dendritic spine dysgenesis induced by amyloid beta-derived oligomers. Eur J Neurosci. 2019 May;49(9):1091-1101. doi: 10.1111/ejn.14311. Epub 2019 Jan 20. PMID: 30565792; PMCID: PMC6559832.

2018

Cahill ME, Browne CJ, Wang J, Hamilton PJ, Dong Y, Nestler EJ. Withdrawal from repeated morphine administration augments expression of the RhoA network in the nucleus accumbens to control synaptic structure. J Neurochem. 2018 Oct;147(1):84-98. doi: 10.1111/jnc.14563. Epub 2018 Sep 26. PMID: 30071134; PMCID: PMC6181756.

Cates HM, Heller EA, Lardner CK, Purushothaman I, Peña CJ, Walker DM, Cahill ME, Neve RL, Shen L, Bagot RC, Nestler EJ. Transcription Factor E2F3a in Nucleus Accumbens Affects Cocaine Action via Transcription and Alternative Splicing. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Aug 1;84(3):167-179. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.11.027. Epub 2017 Dec 5. PMID: 29397901; PMCID: PMC5988910.

Mul JD, Soto M, Cahill ME, Ryan RE, Takahashi H, So K, Zheng J, Croote DE, Hirshman MF, la Fleur SE, Nestler EJ, Goodyear LJ. Voluntary wheel running promotes resilience to chronic social defeat stress in mice: a role for nucleus accumbens ΔFosB. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Aug;43(9):1934-1942. doi: 10.1038/s41386-018-0103-z. Epub 2018 May 24. PMID: 29875450; PMCID: PMC6046059.

Cahill ME, Walker DM, Gancarz AM, Wang ZJ, Lardner CK, Bagot RC, Neve RL, Dietz DM, Nestler EJ. The dendritic spine morphogenic effects of repeated cocaine use occur through the regulation of serum response factor signaling. Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Jun;23(6):1474-1486. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.116. Epub 2017 May 30. PMID: 28555077; PMCID: PMC5709273.

Lorsch ZS, Loh YE, Purushothaman I, Walker DM, Parise EM, Salery M, Cahill ME, Hodes GE, Pfau ML, Kronman H, Hamilton PJ, Issler O, Labonté B, Symonds AE, Zucker M, Zhang TY, Meaney MJ, Russo SJ, Shen L, Bagot RC, Nestler EJ. Estrogen receptor α drives pro-resilient transcription in mouse models of depression. Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 16;9(1):1116. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03567-4. PMID: 29549264; PMCID: PMC5856766.

2017

Labonté B, Engmann O, Purushothaman I, Menard C, Wang J, Tan C, Scarpa JR, Moy G, Loh YE, Cahill M, Lorsch ZS, Hamilton PJ, Calipari ES, Hodes GE, Issler O, Kronman H, Pfau M, Obradovic ALJ, Dong Y, Neve RL, Russo S, Kazarskis A, Tamminga C, Mechawar N, Turecki G, Zhang B, Shen L, Nestler EJ. Sex-specific transcriptional signatures in human depression. Nat Med. 2017 Sep;23(9):1102-1111. doi: 10.1038/nm.4386. Epub 2017 Aug 21. Erratum in: Nat Med. 2018 Apr 10;24(4):525. doi: 10.1038/nm0418-525d. PMID: 28825715; PMCID: PMC5734943.

Ceglia I, Lee KW, Cahill ME, Graves SM, Dietz D, Surmeier DJ, Nestler EJ, Nairn AC, Greengard P, Kim Y. WAVE1 in neurons expressing the D1 dopamine receptor regulates cellular and behavioral actions of cocaine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Feb 7;114(6):1395-1400. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1621185114. Epub 2017 Jan 23. PMID: 28115704; PMCID: PMC5307471.

Calipari ES, Juarez B, Morel C, Walker DM, Cahill ME, Ribeiro E, Roman-Ortiz C, Ramakrishnan C, Deisseroth K, Han MH, Nestler EJ. Dopaminergic dynamics underlying sex-specific cocaine reward. Nat Commun. 2017 Jan 10;8:13877. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13877. PMID: 28072417; PMCID: PMC5234081.

2016

Damez-Werno DM, Sun H, Scobie KN, Shao N, Rabkin J, Dias C, Calipari ES, Maze I, Pena CJ, Walker DM, Cahill ME, Chandra R, Gancarz A, Mouzon E, Landry JA, Cates H, Lobo MK, Dietz D, Allis CD, Guccione E, Turecki G, Defilippi P, Neve RL, Hurd YL, Shen L, Nestler EJ. Histone arginine methylation in cocaine action in the nucleus accumbens. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Aug 23;113(34):9623-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605045113. Epub 2016 Aug 9. PMID: 27506785; PMCID: PMC5003250.

Cahill ME, Bagot RC, Gancarz AM, Walker DM, Sun H, Wang ZJ, Heller EA, Feng J, Kennedy PJ, Koo JW, Cates HM, Neve RL, Shen L, Dietz DM, Nestler EJ. Bidirectional Synaptic Structural Plasticity after Chronic Cocaine Administration Occurs through Rap1 Small GTPase Signaling. Neuron. 2016 Feb 3;89(3):566-82. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.01.031. PMID: 26844834; PMCID: PMC4743039.

Heshmati M, Golden SA, Pfau ML, Christoffel DJ, Seeley EL, Cahill ME, Khibnik LA, Russo SJ. Mefloquine in the nucleus accumbens promotes social avoidance and anxiety-like behavior in mice. Neuropharmacology. 2016 Feb;101:351-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2015.10.013. Epub 2015 Oct 22. PMID: 26471420; PMCID: PMC4681593.

2015

Sun H, Damez-Werno DM, Scobie KN, Shao NY, Dias C, Rabkin J, Koo JW, Korb E, Bagot RC, Ahn FH, Cahill ME, Labonté B, Mouzon E, Heller EA, Cates H, Golden SA, Gleason K, Russo SJ, Andrews S, Neve R, Kennedy PJ, Maze I, Dietz DM, Allis CD, Turecki G, Varga-Weisz P, Tamminga C, Shen L, Nestler EJ. ACF chromatin-remodeling complex mediates stress-induced depressive-like behavior. Nat Med. 2015 Oct;21(10):1146-53. doi: 10.1038/nm.3939. Epub 2015 Sep 21. PMID: 26390241; PMCID: PMC4598281.

Feng J, Shao N, Szulwach KE, Vialou V, Huynh J, Zhong C, Le T, Ferguson D, Cahill ME, Li Y, Koo JW, Ribeiro E, Labonte B, Laitman BM, Estey D, Stockman V, Kennedy P, Couroussé T, Mensah I, Turecki G, Faull KF, Ming GL, Song H, Fan G, Casaccia P, Shen L, Jin P, Nestler EJ. Role of Tet1 and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in cocaine action. Nat Neurosci. 2015 Apr;18(4):536-44. doi: 10.1038/nn.3976. Epub 2015 Mar 16. PMID: 25774451; PMCID: PMC4617315.

Koo JW, Mazei-Robison MS, LaPlant Q, Egervari G, Braunscheidel KM, Adank DN, Ferguson D, Feng J, Sun H, Scobie KN, Damez-Werno DM, Ribeiro E, Peña CJ, Walker D, Bagot RC, Cahill ME, Anderson SA, Labonté B, Hodes GE, Browne H, Chadwick B, Robison AJ, Vialou VF, Dias C, Lorsch Z, Mouzon E, Lobo MK, Dietz DM, Russo SJ, Neve RL, Hurd YL, Nestler EJ. Epigenetic basis of opiate suppression of Bdnf gene expression in the ventral tegmental area. Nat Neurosci. 2015 Mar;18(3):415-22. doi: 10.1038/nn.3932. Epub 2015 Feb 2. PMID: 25643298; PMCID: PMC4340719.

2014

Russell TA, Blizinsky KD, Cobia DJ, Cahill ME, Xie Z, Sweet RA, Duan J, Gejman PV, Wang L, Csernansky JG, Penzes P. A sequence variant in human KALRN impairs protein function and coincides with reduced cortical thickness. Nat Commun. 2014 Sep 16;5:4858. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5858. PMID: 25224588; PMCID: PMC4166532.

Feng J, Wilkinson M, Liu X, Purushothaman I, Ferguson D, Vialou V, Maze I, Shao N, Kennedy P, Koo J, Dias C, Laitman B, Stockman V, LaPlant Q, Cahill ME, Nestler EJ, Shen L. Chronic cocaine-regulated epigenomic changes in mouse nucleus accumbens. Genome Biol. 2014 Apr 22;15(4):R65. doi: 10.1186/gb-2014-15-4-r65. Erratum in: Genome Biol. 2015 Oct 14;16:227. doi: 10.1186/s13059-015-0789-8. PMID: 24758366; PMCID: PMC4073058.

Vialou V, Bagot RC, Cahill ME, Ferguson D, Robison AJ, Dietz DM, Fallon B, Mazei-Robison M, Ku SM, Harrigan E, Winstanley CA, Joshi T, Feng J, Berton O, Nestler EJ. Prefrontal cortical circuit for depression- and anxiety-related behaviors mediated by cholecystokinin: role of ΔFosB. J Neurosci. 2014 Mar 12;34(11):3878-87. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1787-13.2014. PMID: 24623766; PMCID: PMC3951691.

2013

Cahill ME, Remmers C, Jones KA, Xie Z, Sweet RA, Penzes P. Neuregulin1 signaling promotes dendritic spine growth through kalirin. J Neurochem. 2013 Sep;126(5):625-35. doi: 10.1111/jnc.12330. Epub 2013 Jun 27. PMID: 23742124; PMCID: PMC3752328.

Wang X, Cahill ME, Werner CT, Christoffel DJ, Golden SA, Xie Z, Loweth JA, Marinelli M, Russo SJ, Penzes P, Wolf ME. Kalirin-7 mediates cocaine-induced AMPA receptor and spine plasticity, enabling incentive sensitization. J Neurosci. 2013 Jul 3;33(27):11012-22. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1097-13.2013. Erratum in: J Neurosci. 2014 Jan 8;34(2):688. PMID: 23825406; PMCID: PMC3718375.

Golden SA, Christoffel DJ, Heshmati M, Hodes GE, Magida J, Davis K, Cahill ME, Dias C, Ribeiro E, Ables JL, Kennedy PJ, Robison AJ, Gonzalez-Maeso J, Neve RL, Turecki G, Ghose S, Tamminga CA, Russo SJ. Epigenetic regulation of RAC1 induces synaptic remodeling in stress disorders and depression. Nat Med. 2013 Mar;19(3):337-44. doi: 10.1038/nm.3090. Epub 2013 Feb 17. PMID: 23416703; PMCID: PMC3594624.

2012

Srivastava DP, Copits BA, Xie Z, Huda R, Jones KA, Mukherji S, Cahill ME, VanLeeuwen JE, Woolfrey KM, Rafalovich I, Swanson GT, Penzes P. Afadin is required for maintenance of dendritic structure and excitatory tone. J Biol Chem. 2012 Oct 19;287(43):35964-74. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.363358. Epub 2012 Sep 4. PMID: 22948147; PMCID: PMC3476264.

Penzes P, Cahill ME. Deconstructing signal transduction pathways that regulate the actin cytoskeleton in dendritic spines. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken). 2012 Jul;69(7):426-41. doi: 10.1002/cm.21015. Epub 2012 Mar 12. PMID: 22307832; PMCID: PMC3576145.

Dietz DM, Sun H, Lobo MK, Cahill ME, Chadwick B, Gao V, Koo JW, Mazei-Robison MS, Dias C, Maze I, Damez-Werno D, Dietz KC, Scobie KN, Ferguson D, Christoffel D, Ohnishi Y, Hodes GE, Zheng Y, Neve RL, Hahn KM, Russo SJ, Nestler EJ. Rac1 is essential in cocaine-induced structural plasticity of nucleus accumbens neurons. Nat Neurosci. 2012 Jun;15(6):891-6. doi: 10.1038/nn.3094. PMID: 22522400; PMCID: PMC3565539.

Nicholson DA, Cahill ME, Tulisiak CT, Geinisman Y, Penzes P. Spatially restricted actin-regulatory signaling contributes to synapse morphology. J Neurochem. 2012 Jun;121(6):852-60. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2012.07743.x. Epub 2012 Apr 27. PMID: 22458534; PMCID: PMC3371164.

Deo AJ, Cahill ME, Li S, Goldszer I, Henteleff R, Vanleeuwen JE, Rafalovich I, Gao R, Stachowski EK, Sampson AR, Lewis DA, Penzes P, Sweet RA. Increased expression of Kalirin-9 in the auditory cortex of schizophrenia subjects: its role in dendritic pathology. Neurobiol Dis. 2012 Feb;45(2):796-803. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2011.11.003. Epub 2011 Nov 13. PMID: 22120753; PMCID: PMC3259283.

Cahill ME, Jones KA, Rafalovich I, Xie Z, Barros CS, Müller U, Penzes P. Control of interneuron dendritic growth through NRG1/erbB4-mediated kalirin-7 disinhibition. Mol Psychiatry. 2012 Jan;17(1):1, 99-107. doi: 10.1038/mp.2011.35. Epub 2011 Apr 12. PMID: 21483438; PMCID: PMC3135693.

2011

Penzes P, Cahill ME, Jones KA, VanLeeuwen JE, Woolfrey KM. Dendritic spine pathology in neuropsychiatric disorders. Nat Neurosci. 2011 Mar;14(3):285-93. doi: 10.1038/nn.2741. PMID: 21346746; PMCID: PMC3530413.

Xie Z, Cahill ME, Radulovic J, Wang J, Campbell SL, Miller CA, Sweatt JD, Penzes P. Hippocampal phenotypes in kalirin-deficient mice. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2011 Jan;46(1):45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2010.08.005. Epub 2010 Aug 11. PMID: 20708080; PMCID: PMC3576140.

2010

Xie Z, Cahill ME, Penzes P. Kalirin loss results in cortical morphological alterations. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2010 Jan;43(1):81-9. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2009.09.006. Epub 2009 Sep 30. PMID: 19800004; PMCID: PMC2818244.

2009

Woolfrey KM, Srivastava DP, Photowala H, Yamashita M, Barbolina MV, Cahill ME, Xie Z, Jones KA, Quilliam LA, Prakriya M, Penzes P. Epac2 induces synapse remodeling and depression and its disease-associated forms alter spines. Nat Neurosci. 2009 Oct;12(10):1275-84. doi: 10.1038/nn.2386. Epub 2009 Sep 6. PMID: 19734897; PMCID: PMC2754861.

Cahill ME, Xie Z, Day M, Photowala H, Barbolina MV, Miller CA, Weiss C, Radulovic J, Sweatt JD, Disterhoft JF, Surmeier DJ, Penzes P. Kalirin regulates cortical spine morphogenesis and disease-related behavioral phenotypes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Aug 4;106(31):13058-63. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0904636106. Epub 2009 Jul 22. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 29;106(39):16890. Photowala, Huzefa [added]. PMID: 19625617; PMCID: PMC2722269.

2008

Penzes P, Cahill ME, Jones KA, Srivastava DP. Convergent CaMK and RacGEF signals control dendritic structure and function. Trends Cell Biol. 2008 Sep;18(9):405-13. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2008.07.002. Epub 2008 Aug 11. PMID: 18701290.

Xie Z, Photowala H, Cahill ME, Srivastava DP, Woolfrey KM, Shum CY, Huganir RL, Penzes P. Coordination of synaptic adhesion with dendritic spine remodeling by AF-6 and kalirin-7. J Neurosci. 2008 Jun 11;28(24):6079-91. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1170-08.2008. PMID: 18550750; PMCID: PMC2727754.

2007

Xie Z, Srivastava DP, Photowala H, Kai L, Cahill ME, Woolfrey KM, Shum CY, Surmeier DJ, Penzes P. Kalirin-7 controls activity-dependent structural and functional plasticity of dendritic spines. Neuron. 2007 Nov 21;56(4):640-56. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2007.10.005. PMID: 18031682; PMCID: PMC2118058.

Guillozet-Bongaarts AL, Glajch KE, Libson EG, Cahill ME, Bigio E, Berry RW, Binder LI. Phosphorylation and cleavage of tau in non-AD tauopathies. Acta Neuropathol. 2007 May;113(5):513-20. doi: 10.1007/s00401-007-0209-6. Epub 2007 Mar 15. PMID: 17357802.

2006

Guillozet-Bongaarts AL, Cahill ME, Cryns VL, Reynolds MR, Berry RW, Binder LI. Pseudophosphorylation of tau at serine 422 inhibits caspase cleavage: in vitro evidence and implications for tangle formation in vivo. J Neurochem. 2006 May;97(4):1005-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2006.03784.x. Epub 2006 Apr 5. PMID: 16606369.

2005

Guillozet-Bongaarts AL, Garcia-Sierra F, Reynolds MR, Horowitz PM, Fu Y, Wang T, Cahill ME, Bigio EH, Berry RW, Binder LI. Tau truncation during neurofibrillary tangle evolution in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurobiol Aging. 2005 Jul;26(7):1015-22. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2004.09.019. Epub 2004 Dec 16. PMID: 15748781.

2003

Vaquero J, Chung C, Cahill ME, Blei AT. Pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy in acute liver failure. Semin Liver Dis. 2003 Aug;23(3):259-69. doi: 10.1055/s-2003-42644. PMID: 14523679.