Jeffrey T. Cole, Ph.D.
Phone: 301-295-9792
Email: jeffrey.cole@usuhs.mil
Assistant Professor of Neurology (Tenure Track)
Primary Investigator, Acute Core, Comprehensive National Neuroscience Program
Education
- Positions and Honors
- Research and Teaching
- Recent Laboratory Publications
- Lab Members
- Lab Activities
Education
- North Carolina State University (Ph.D - Physiology/Nutrition)
- University of Illinois (M.S. - Animal Science)
- North Carolina State University (B.S. Animal Science/Nutrition)
Positions and Honors
- Post-doctoral researcher, University of Tennessee, 2003-2004
- Post-doctoral research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 2004-2007
- Research Associate, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 2007-2009
Research and Teaching
Dr. Cole studies changes in brain metabolism following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using rodents as a model, he is investigating the shifts in aerobic and anaerobic metabolism that occur post- injury and the subsequent biochemical cascades that culminate in cognitive dysfunction. Several projects are underway to explore disruptions in energy generation and neurotransmitter synthesis, calcium homeostasis, electrophysiological function and ultimately, cognition. In a recent publication, Dr. Cole demonstrated that the addition of three specific amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine, collectively known as Branched Chain Amino Acids; BCAAs) can be used to restore electrophysiological function in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning and memory. Thus, by simply manipulating the nutritional status of brain injured animals, learning and memory were restored. In addition to this primary work, Dr. Cole pioneered a study investigating changes in the lateral ventricles after brain injury.
Within moments of a TBI (fluid percussion injury model), the ependymal cells lining the ventricles lose their cilia by shearing caused by the fluid pulse wave. This work could have major implications for post-traumatic hydrocephalus, and possibly the propagation of the deleterious effects of a brain injury through the peri-ventricular region.
Since arriving at USUHS, Dr. Cole has become the Primary Investigator on one grant investigating the role of BCAAs after a TBI, and the Associate Investigator on two further studies examining metabolic and biochemical changes in rats after brain injury. Further, he will be an associate investigator on a currently funded, multi-center clinical trial studying severe traumatic brain injured patients. Dr. Cole has primary investigator duties in the Acute Neurology Core, which is one of three cores in the Comprehensive National Neuroscience Program, a Congressionally mandated program to investigate neurological issues affecting military personnel.
Teaching
Dr. Cole's duties also include instructing students, and he teaches lectures in both the graduate Neurobiology of Diseases course and graduate Biochemistry. These are in addition to his role in training multiple researchers at a variety of experience levels.
Mentoring: Dr. Cole directly supervises staff scientists, post-doctoral researchers, doctoral students, research associates, and undergraduate students.
Recent Publications
Cole JT, Yarnell A, Kean WS, Gold E, Lewis B, Ren M, McMullen, DC, Jacobowitz D, Pollard HB, O'Neill JT, Grunberg NE, Dalgard CL, Frank J, Watson WD. Craniotomy: True sham for traumatic brain injury, or a sham of a sham. E-Pub Dec 29. J. Neurotrauma.
Guoqiang Xing, Ming Ren, Ajay Verma, William Watson, and J. Timothy O'Neill. "Traumatic brain injury induced expression and phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH): a mechanism of dysregulated glucose metabolism." Neuroscience Letters, 454(1):38-42. (2009)
J.T. Cole, C. M. Mitala, S. Kundu, J.A. Elkind, I. Nissim, A. Verma, A.S. Cohen.
Dietary branched amino acids ameliorate injury-induced cognitive impairment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(1):366-371. (2010)
McMullen DC, Ramnanan CJ, Storey KB. In cold-hardy insects, seasonal, temperature, and reversible phosphorylation controls regulate sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+/ATPase (SERCA). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 83(4):677-686. (2010)
Rankin, E.B., Rha, J., Selak, M.A., Unger, T.L., Keith, B., Liu, Q and Haase, V.H. HIF-2 regulates hepatic lipid metabolism. Molecular and Cellular Biology: 29: 4527-4538 (2009).
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Contacts
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Department of Neurology, Room A1036
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
Telephone: 301-295-3643
Fax: 301-295-0620