Jonathan Javitch, MD/PhD
Lieber Professor of Experimental Therapeutics in Psychiatry and Professor of Pharmacology (in the Center for Molecular Recognition and in Physiology & Cellular Biophysics)

Chief, Division of Molecular Therapeutics,
New York State Psychiatric Institute

Director, Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research,
Columbia University Medical Center

 

 

Jonathan A. Javitch obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Biological Sciences at Stanford University. He completed the joint M.D.-Ph.D. program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where as a graduate student with Solomon Snyder he demonstrated that a key step in the neurotoxicity of MPTP is the uptake of its metabolite MPP+ by the dopamine transporter. After graduating from Hopkins, Dr. Javitch completed a medical internship and psychiatric residency at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He did postdoctoral work on the structure of dopamine receptors with Dr. Arthur Karlin at Columbia University. Dr. Javitch is currently the Lieber Professor of Experimental Therapeutics in Psychiatry and Professor of Pharmacology in the Center for Molecular Recognition and in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Director of the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research and Treatment, and Chief of the Division of Molecular Therapeutics at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

His research focuses on the structure, function and regulation of G protein-coupled receptors and neurotransmitter transporters, with an emphasis on dopamine D2 receptor and dopamine transporter, the targets, respectively, for antipsychotic drugs and psychostimulants, using biochemical and biophysical approaches to elucidate molecular mechanisms of drug action, receptor signaling and sodium-coupled transport. His studies of GPCRs are uncovering unappreciated regulation of signaling by heteromeric complexes of receptors, raising the possibility of a novel approach to drug design and screening. In collaboration with leading experts in the field, his laboratory is also pursuing single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and crystallographic studies of bacterial homologs of neurotransmitter transporters to explicate the mechanisms of sodium-coupled transport and the actions of antidepressant drugs that inhibit transport. He is also studying the function and regulation of dopamine transporter and dopamine receptors in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster , where he has developed approaches to translate between molecular mechanisms and whole organism behavior using the power of fly genetics.

Education and Training

Undergraduate:  Stanford University, B.S., M.S., 1976-1980
Graduate:  Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D. Pharmacology, 1980-1986
Medical School:  Johns Hopkins University, M.D., 1980-1986
Internship:  Columbia University Medical Center, Medical Internship, 1986-1987
Residency:  Columbia University Medical Center, Psychiatry, 1987-1990
Fellowship:  Columbia University Medical Center, Schizophrenia fellow, 1990-1992
Board Certifications:  Psychiatry

Specialties

Contact information

Address:
Lawrence C. Kolb Research Building
Room 353  Unit/Box:19
40 Haven Avenue
New York, NY   10032

Phone: 646-330-5296
Fax: 775-898-5133
jaj2@columbia.edu

research summary

Structure, function and regulation of G protein coupled receptors and neurotransmitter transporters - the targets for antipsychotic drugs and psychostimulants.

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Publications

1. Zhao Y, Terry D, Shi L, Weinstein H, Blanchard SC, Javitch JA.: Single-molecule dynamics of gating in a neurotransmitter transporter homologue..  Nature  2010;465: 188-93

2. Zhao Y, Terry DS, Shi L, Quick M, Weinstein H, Blanchard SC, Javitch JA.: Substrate-modulated gating dynamics in a Na+-coupled neurotransmitter transporter homologue.  Nature  2011;474: 109-113

3. Urizar E, Yano H, Kolster R, Galés C, Lambert N, Javitch JA.: CODA-RET reveals functional selectivity as a result of GPCR heteromerization.  Nat Chem Biol  2011;7: 624-630

4. Quick M, Shi L, Zehnpfennig B, Weinstein H, Javitch JA.: Experimental conditions can obscure the second high-affinity site in LeuT.  Nat Struct Mol Biol  2012;19: 207-211

5. Pizzo AB, Karam CS, Zhang Y, Yano H, Freyberg RJ, Karam DS, Freyberg Z, Yamamoto A, McCabe BD, Javitch JA.: The membrane raft protein Flotillin-1 is essential in dopamine neurons for amphetamine-induced behavior in Drosophila.  Molecular Psychiatry  2012;in press