Profile picture of Jason Karpac
  • Associate Professor (Joint Appointment)
Research Areas
  • Biological Resilience
  • Neural Circuits Regeneration and Repair

Biography

Joined the Department in 2024

Research Interests

The Karpac Lab is broadly interested in the origins of signaling networks that provide animals with metabolic flexibility, and thus the capacity to balance energy homeostasis. These ancient networks, under intense evolutionary pressure, both respond to and are shaped by diverse inputs, such as nutrient availability, pathogens, and aging. We primarily use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a genetic model to investigate the function and integration of these signaling networks at multiple levels of biological organization: from molecules, to cells and tissues, to inter-organ communication, to organismal physiology and aging.

Laboratory Details

Laboratory Address:

Biological Sciences Building West

Room 348

Educational Background

  • Grove City College, BS, 2003
  • Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OMRF), PhD, 2007
  • University of Rochester, Postdoctoral
  • Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Postdoctoral

Selected Publications

  • 1.) Li, X. and Karpac, J. (2023). A distinct Acyl-CoA binding protein (ACBP6) shapes tissue plasticity during nutrient adaptation in Drosophila. Nature Communications. 14(1):7599. PMID: 37989752 

    2.) Li, X. and Karpac, J. (2023). Adaptive physiology drives aging plasticity in locusts. Nature Ecology and Evolution. 7(6):798-799. PMID: 37156890 

    3.) Weindel, CG., Martinez, ML., Zhao, X., Mabry, CJ., Bell, SL., Vail, KJ., Coleman, AK., VanPortfliet, J., Zhao, B., Wagner, AR., Azam, S., Scott, HM., Li, P., West, AP., Karpac, J., Patrick, KL., and Watson, RO. (2022). Mitochondrial ROS promotes susceptibility to infection via gasdermin D-mediated necroptosis. Cell. S0092-8674(22). PMID: 35907404

    *Previewed in Cell, Current Biology, and Molecular Cell

     

    4.) Mlih, M. and Karpac, J. (2022). Integrin-ECM interactions and membrane-associated Catalase cooperate to promote resilience of the Drosophila intestinal epithelium. PLOS Biology. 20(5):e3001635. PMID: 35522719 

    5.) Zhao, X., and Karpac, J. (2021). Glutamate Metabolism Directs Energetic Trade-offs to Shape Host-Pathogen Susceptibility in Drosophila. Cell Metabolism. 33(12):2428-2444.PMID: 34710355

    *Previewed in Cell Metabolism - Defend or reproduce? Muscle-derived glutamate determines an immune-reproductive energetic tradeoff. PMID: 3487923

    6.) Vandehoef, C., Molaei, M., and Karpac, J. (2020). Dietary Adaptation of Microbiota in Drosophila Requires NF-κB-Dependent Control of the Translational Regulator 4E-BP. Cell Reports. 31, 107736. PMID:32521261

    7.) Zhao, X., Li, X., Shi, X., and Karpac, J. (2020). Diet‐MEF2 interactions shape lipid droplet diversification in muscle to influence Drosophila lifespan. Aging Cell. 19(7):e13172. PMID: 32537848

    8.) Molaei, M., Vandehoef, C., and Karpac, J. (2019). NF-κB Shapes Metabolic Adaptation by Attenuating    Foxo-Mediated Lipolysis in Drosophila. Developmental Cell. 49,802-810.e6. PMID: 31080057

    9.) Mlih, M., Khericha, M., Birdwell, C., West, AP., Karpac, J. (2018). A virus-acquired host cytokine controls systemic aging by antagonizing apoptosis. PLOS Biology. 16(7):e2005796. PMID: 30036358

                *Previewed in Nature Research Highlights

    10.) Zhao, X., Karpac, J. (2017). Muscle directs diurnal energy homeostasis through a myokine-dependent hormone module in Drosophila. Current Biology. 27(13):1941-1955. PMID: 28669758

                *Previewed and Recommended for F1000Prime