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., Karpac, J. (2023). A distinct Acyl-CoA binding protein (ACBP6) shapes tissue plasticity during nutrient adaptation in Drosophila. Nat Communications 14, 7599. PMID: 37989752
    2. Li, X., Karpac, J. (2023). Adaptive physiology drives ageing plasticity in locusts. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7, 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
    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: 34879236
    6. Fuentes, N.R., Mlih, M., Wang, X., Webster, G., Cortes-Acosta, S., Salinas, M.L., Corbin, I.R., Karpac, J., and Chapkin, R.S. (2021). Membrane therapy using DHA suppresses epidermal growth factor receptor signaling by disrupting nanocluster formation. J Lipid Research. Jan 27;62:100026. PMID: 33515553
    7. 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
    8. 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
    9. Zhao, X., Karpac, J. (2020). REVIEW. The Drosophila midgut and the systemic coordination of lipid-dependent energy homeostasis. Current Opinion Insect Science, 41:100-105. PMID: 32898765
    10. 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