Education and Professional Experience

• 2007, Assistant Professor, Univeristy of Miami, Department of Biology
• 2005, Co-lecturer Comparative Invertebrate Embryology(Zool. 536) Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington
• 2003-2007, Research Assistant Professor, Dept. of Neurobiology, SUNY Stony Brook, NY Mentor: Dr. Paul Brehm
• 1998-2003, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Neurobiology, SUNY Stony Brook, NY Mentor: Dr. Gail Mandel
• 1991-1998, Ph.D. from the Dept of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA Mentor: Dr. William J Moody
• 1987-1991, BA from the Dept. of Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

Awards

• 1996, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology- Best Student Paper Award
• 1995, Ingrith Dyrup-Olsen Award for Excellence in Teaching

Grants

• 2004-2008, Principal Investigator NIH K01 Career Development Award
• 1998-2000, NIH Individual National Research Service Award
• 1995-1997, NSF Mathematical Biology Training Grant
• 1991-1994, NIH Molecular and Cellular Biology Training Grant

Areas of Focus

• Development and Neuroscience

Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding the genetic basis of swimming by studying a set of zebrafish mutants recently isolated in the lab. Zebrafish exhibit many similarities to humans in the genes and circuits that underlie movement. Therefore, zebrafish motility mutants provide useful models for human genetic disaeses that impact nerve and muscle function.The lab also studies mutants for which the culprit gene has been identified, to better understand homeostatic mechanisms triggered in response to mutation. The zebrafish motility mutant shocked has a point mutation in the glial glycine transporter (GlyT1). Consequently, the inhibitory neurotransmitter glycine builds up in the nervous system and the mutant larvae fail to escape when touched. However,as the larvae mature, they naturally recover the ability to mount a normal escape response. We have found that mutant recovery is associated with a dramatic decrease in the post-synaptic glycine receptors. We hope to further study this mutant with the aim of understanding the mechanisms causal to glycine receptor down-regulation. This study is medically relevant because glycine transporter antagonists are currently being tested as atypical anti-psychotics and similar forms of homeostasis are likely to occur in humans with chronic use of GlyT1 inhibitors.

Teaching Interests

My goals in the classroom are not only to pass on information but also to convey my own excitement about the material as a means of encouraging students to think critically about the topics we cover. My aim is to make the students active participants in their learning. I also expose students to the primary literature and discuss the methods employed by the researchers so that the process by which we understand biological systems becomes apparent.

Selected Publications

• Stephan Züchner1,2, Julia Dallman5, Rong Wen3, Gary Beecham1,2, Adam Naj1,2, Amjad Farooq4, Martin Kohli1,2, Patrice L. Whitehead1,2, William Hulme1,2, Ioanna Konidari1,2, Joseph Buxbaum6, David Seo1,2, Jonathan L. Haines7, Susan Blanton1,2, Juan Young1,2, Eduardo Alfonso3, Jeffery M. Vance1,2, Byron Lam3 and Margaret A Pericak-Vance1,2 (2010) Whole-exome sequencing identifies a mutation in DHDDS as the cause of recessive retinitis pigmentosa resulting from defective glycosylation. Under revision at The American Journal of Human Genetics.
• Ganser, LR, Dallman JE. (2009) Glycinergic synapse development, plasticity, and homeostasis in zebrafish. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience 2:30. Solicited Review.
• Mongeon, R, Gleason, M, Masino, M, Fetcho, J, Mandel, G., and Brehm, P, Dallman JE (2008). Synaptic homeostasis in a zebrafish glial glycine transporter mutant. J. Neurophysiology 100(4):1716-23..
• Dallman, JE, Walogorsky, MD, Brehm, P. Using high-speed camera and motion software to screen for zebrafish motility mutants. Manuscript in preparation.
• Mongeon, R, Gleason, MR, Masino, MA, Fetcho, JR, Mandel, G, Brehm, P, Dallman, JE. Synaptic homeostais in a zebrafish glial glycine transporter mutant. Manuscript submitted to Neuron.
• Dallman, JE, Gleason, M, Mongeon, R, Masino, M, Fetcho, J, and Brehm, p. The glycine transporter 1 is the gene mutated in the zebrafish motility mutant shocked. Program No. 749.11. 2005 Abstract Viewer and Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience 2005.