Eric Blalock, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
University of Kentucky, 1997.
Office: MS-310, Chandler Medical Center (0298)
Tel: (859) 323-8033
I am interested in age-related changes in brain tissue, how they influence cognitive function, and how they apparently increase susceptibility to neurodegenerative (e.g., Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s) diseases. Currently my lab is focusing on the influence of new onset psychosocial stress (like social isolation, loss of a job or death of a spouse) and elevated stress hormone levels, in aged subjects. Although much work has gone into stress’ negative influence on brain function, very little work has looked at new onset psychosocial stress in aged subjects. We are also evaluating interventions, particularly those influencing sleep, as potential treatments to improve brain function. In collaboration with other labs, we are also studying sex steroid hormone, myelination, neuronal plasticity, inflammation, and calcium homeostasis in aging brain tissue.
Our lab’s techniques include: behavioral manipulations like maze running and environmental enrichment; surgical implanting of radiotelemetry devices to measure sleep behavior; cell and region specific tissue collection, molecular measurement, and electrophsiological recording. One difficulty in dovetailing molecular and electrophysiological approaches has been the heterogeneity of brain tissue. Whole brain is made up of several different cell types, roughly classified as neuronal, glial, and vascular. Approaches that examine whole tissue, when compared to approaches that examine only the neuronal components of that tissue (e.g., molecular vs electrophysiologic), must be interpreted with caution. We are currently working with two technologies to help address this. First, I recently headed up a grant application to get a Zeiss PALM Microbeam system here at UK. This specialized microscope has been installed and we are currently using it to isolate cellular and subcellular regions for analysis. We also employ the partially dissociated "zipper" slice preparation, which permits the extraction of intact single neurons (with extensive neuritic arbors), for molecular analysis. For much of this small sample work, I am indebted to Dr. Kuey-Chu Chen's laboratory for their expertise and advice.
Microarray, and other massively parallel technologies, are frequently used in the lab and therefore bioinformatic approaches are constantly being adopted, adapted, revised and in some cases completely constructed, within the lab. Thus, these largely in silico pursuits also represent a major effort in the lab. Our work in bioinformatics has also been a major contact point for multiple collaborations both within the University as well as nationally.
Selected Publications
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Federico L, Ren H, Mueller PA, Wu T, Liu S, Popovic J, Blalock EM, Sunkara M, Ovaa H, Albers HM, Mills GB, Morris AJ, Smyth SS, Moolenaar WH (accepted) Autotaxin and its product lysophosphatidic acid suppress brown adipose differentiation and promote diet induced obesity in mice. Mol. Endocrinology
Tsyusko O, Unrine J, Spurgeon D, Blalock E, Starnes D, Tseng M, Joice G, Bertsch P (accepted) Toxicogenomic Responses of the Model Organism Caenorhabditis elegans to Gold Nanoparticles.
Env. Sci. and Tech.
Blalock EM, Korrect GS, Stromberg AJ, Erickson DR (2012) Gene expression analysis of urine sediment: evaluation for potential noninvasive markers of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome.
J Urol 187:725-732.
Blalock EM, Buechel HM, Popovic J, Geddes JW, Landfield PW (2011) Microarray analyses of laser-captured hippocampus reveal distinct gray and white matter signatures associated with incipient Alzheimer's disease. J Chem Neuroanat 42:118-126.
Kim HJ, Gieske MC, Trudgen KL, Hudgins-Spivey S, Kim BG, Krust A, Chambon P, Jeong JW, Blalock E, Ko C (2011) Identification of estradiol/ERalpha-regulated genes in the mouse pituitary.
J Endocrinol 210:309-321.
Blalock EM, Grondin R, Chen KC, Thibault O, Thibault V, Pandya JD, Dowling A, Zhang Z, Sullivan P, Porter NM, Landfield PW (2010) Aging-related gene expression in hippocampus proper compared with dentate gyrus is selectively associated with metabolic syndrome variables in rhesus monkeys. J Neurosci 30:6058-6071.
Blalock EM, Phelps JT, Pancani T, Searcy JL, Anderson KL, Gant JC, Popovic J, Avdiushko MG, Cohen DA, Chen KC, Porter NM, Thibault O (2010) Effects of long-term pioglitazone treatment on peripheral and central markers of aging. PLoS One 5:e10405.
Buechel HM, Popovic J, Searcy JL, Porter NM, Thibault O, Blalock EM (2011) Deep sleep and parietal cortex gene expression changes are related to cognitive deficits with age.
PLoS One 6:e18387.
Gant JC, Chen KC, Norris CM, Kadish I, Thibault O, Blalock EM, Porter NM, Landfield PW (2011) Disrupting function of FK506-binding protein 1b/12.6 induces the Ca(2)+-dysregulation aging phenotype in hippocampal neurons. J Neurosci 31:1693-1703.
Latimer CS, Searcy JL, Bridges MT, Brewer LD, Popovic J, Blalock EM, Landfield PW, Thibault O, Porter NM (2011) Reversal of glial and neurovascular markers of unhealthy brain aging by exercise in middle-aged female mice. PLoS One 6:e26812.
Kadish I, Thibault O, Blalock EM, Chen, K-C, Gant JC, Porter NM, and Landfield PW (2009)
Onset of hippocampal and cognitive aging: Lifespan expression analyses identify associated changes in metabolism and cholesterol trafficking. J. Neurosci., 29:1805-1816.
Brewer LD, Dowling AL, Curran-Rauhut MA, Landfield PW, Porter NM, and Blalock EM (2009)
Estradiol reverses a calcium-related biomarker of brain aging in female rats. J Neurosci. 2009 May3;29(19):6058-67.
Gant JC, Thibault O, Blalock EM, Yang J, Bachstetter A, Kotick J, Schauwecker PE, Hauser KF, Smith GM, Mervis R, Li Y, and Barnes GN (2009)
Decreased number of interneurons and increased seizures in neuropilin 2 deficient mice: implications for autism and epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2009 Apr;50(4):629-45. Epub 2008 Jul 24.
Norris CM, Blalock EM, Chen KC, Porter NM, Thibault O, Kraner SD, and Landfield PW (2008)
Hippocampal 'zipper' slice studies reveal a necessary role for calcineurin in the increased activity of L-type Ca(2+) channels with aging. Neurobiol Aging. 2008 May 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Gant, JC, Thibault, O, Blalock, EM, Yang, J, Bachstetter, A, Kotick J, Schauwecker PE, Hauser, KF, Smith, GM, Mervis, R, Li YF, and Barnes, GN (2008)
Decreased number of interneurons, and increased seizures in neuropilin 2 deficient mice: implications for autism and epilepsy. Epilepsia 2008. Epub doi: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2008.01725.x
Hebert SL, Simmons C, Thompson AL, Zorc CS, Blalock EM, and Kraner SD (2007)
Basic helix-loop-helix factors recruit nuclear factor I to enhance expression of the NaV 1.4 Na+ channel gene.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2007 Nov-Dec;1769(11-12):649-58. Epub 2007 Sep 14.
Hulshizer R, Blalock EM (2007) Post hoc pattern matching: assigning significance to statistically defined expression patterns in single channel microarray data. BMC Bioinformatics 8:240.
Landfield PW, Blalock EM, Chen KC, Porter NM (2007)
A New Glucocorticoid Hypothesis of Brain Aging: Implications for Alzheimer's Disease. Current Alzheimer's Research 4: 205-212
Rowe* WB, Blalock* EM, Chen KC, Kadish I, Wang D, Barrett JE, Thibault O, Porter NM, Rose GM, Landfield PW (2007)
Hippocampal Expression Analyses Reveal Selective Association of Immediate-Early, Neuroenergetic, and Myelinogenic Pathways with Cognitive Impairment in Aged Rats. J Neurosci 27: 3098-3110
Norris CM*, Blalock EM*, Thibault O, Brewer LD, Clodfelter GV, Porter NM, Landfield PW (2006) Electrophysiological Mechanisms of Delayed Excitotoxicity: Positive Feedback Loop Between NMDA Receptor Current and Depolarization-Mediated Glutamate Release. J Neurophys 96: 2488-2500. *authors contributed equally
Kelly KM, Nadon NL, Morrison JH, Thibault O, Barnes CA, Blalock EM (2005) "The neurobiology of aging" Epilepsy Res. 67:1-16.
Blalock EM, Chen KC , Stromberg AJ, Norris CM, Kadish I, Kraner SD, Porter NM, Landfield PW (2005) "Harnessing the Power of Gene Microarrays for the Study of Brain Aging and Alzheimer's Disease: Statistical Reliability and Functional Correlation" Aging Research Reviews 4: 481-512.
Norris CM, Kadish I, Blalock EM, Chen KC, Thibault V, Porter NM, Landfield PW, Kraner SD (2005) Calcineurin triggers reactive/inflammatory processes in astrocytes and is upregulated in aging and Alzheimer's models. J Neurosci. 25:4649-4658.
Blalock EM, Geddes JW, Chen KC, Porter NM, Markesbery WR, Landfield PW (2004) Incipient Alzheimer's disease: Microarray correlation analyses reveal major transcriptional and tumor suppressor responses. PNAS 101:2174-2178.
Blalock, EM (ed.) (2003) "A Beginner's Guide to Microarrays" Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York (347 pages)
Blalock EM, Chen KC, Sharrow K, Herman JP, Porter NM, Foster TC, Landfield PW. (2003) Gene microarrays in hippocampal aging: statistical profiling identifies novel processes correlated with cognitive impairment. J Neurosci. 23:3807-3819.
Peng X, Wood CL, Blalock EM, Chen KC, Landfield PW, Stromberg AJ. (2003)
Statistical implications of pooling RNA samples for microarray experiments. BMC Bioinformatics. 4:26.
Norris CM, Blalock EM, Chen KC, Porter NM, Landfield PW. (2002) Calcineurin enhances L-type Ca(2+) channel activity in hippocampal neurons: increased effect with age in culture. Neuroscience.110:213-225.
Blalock EM, Chen KC, Vanaman TC, Landfield PW, Slevin JT. (2001) Epilepsy-induced decrease of L-type Ca2+ channel activity and coordinate regulation of subunit mRNA in single neurons of rat hippocampal 'zipper' slices. Epilepsy Res. 43:211-226.
Chen K-C, Blalock EM, Thibault O, Kaminker P and Landfield PW. (2001)
Expression of alpha 1D subunit mRNA is correlated with L-type Ca2+ channel activity in single neurons of hippocampal "zipper" slices. PNAS 97(8):4357-4362.
Blalock EM, Porter NM, Landfield PW. (1999)
Decreased G-protein-mediated regulation and shift in calcium channel types with age in hippocampal cultures. J Neurosci 19:8674-84.
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