Mahboubeh Tavakoli-Nezhad, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Biology
Courses Taught
General Biology: Information Flow and Energy; General Biology: Transformations of Energy and Matter
Education
- B.S., Biology, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran
- M.Sc., Toxicology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Ph.D., Pharmacology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Research Interests
Mahboubeh Tavakoli has performed research in cellular/molecular biology, physiology, and pharmacology with a focus on neuroscience. Her research interests are on understanding the neural regulation of circadian rhythmicity in mammals. She has conducted cellular, molecular, and physiologically based studies on the neural regulation of circadian rhythm by the suprachiasmatic nucleus and analyzed gene expression profiles of clock genes under different light cycles. She has also investigated the cellular and molecular interaction between endogenous opioid peptides and hypothalamic dopamine neurons during lactation and the electrophysiological activity of dopaminergic neurons in vivo.
Publications and Media Placements
Debra A Brock, Suegene Noh, Alicia N M Hubert, Tamara S Haselkorn, Susanne DiSalvo, Melanie K Suess, Alexander S Bradley, Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Katherine S Geist, David C Queller, Joan E Strassmann. Endosymbiotic adaptations in three new bacterial species associated with Dictyostelium discoideum: Paraburkholderia agricolaris sp. nov., Paraburkholderia hayleyella sp. nov., and Paraburkholderia bonniea sp. nov. PeerJ. 2020; 8: e9151. doi: 10.7717/peerJ. 9151.
Schwartz WJ, Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Lambert C, Weaver DR, de la Iglesia Ho. Distinct patterns of period gene expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus underlie circadian clock photoentrainment by advances or delays. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2011;108 (41): 17219-17224.
Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Arbogast LA. Mu and kappa opioid receptor expression in the mediobasal hypothalamus and effectiveness of selective antagonists on prolactin release during lactation. Neuroscience 2 010; 166:359-367.
Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Tao-Cheng JH, Weaver DR, Schwartz WJ. Per1-like immunoreactivity in oxytocin cells bodies of the hamster hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system. Journal of Biological Rhythms 2007; 22:81-84.
Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Schwartz WJ. Hamsters running on time: is the lateral habenula a part of the clock? Chronobiology International 2006; 23:217-224.
Tavakoli-Nezhad M, William J. Schwartz WJ. c-Fos expression in the brains of behaviorally 鈥淪plit鈥� hamsters in constant light: calling attention to a dorsolateral region of the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the medial division of the lateral habenula. Journal of Biological Rhythm 2005; 20:419-429.
Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Pitts DK. Postnatal inorganic lead exposure reduces midbrain dopaminergic impulse flow and decreases dopamine D1-receptor sensitivity in the nucleus accumbens neurons. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 2005; 312:1280-1288.
Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Barron AJ, Pitts DK. Postnatal inorganic lead exposure decreases the number of spontaneously active midbrain dopamine neurons in the rat. Neurotoxicology 2001;22: 259-269.
Commissaris RL, Tavakoli-Nezhad M, Barron AJ, Pitts DK. Effects of chronic low level lead exposure on prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle in the rat. Neurotoxicology and Teratology 2000; 22:55-60.