Caralina Marin De Evsikova, PhD

Contact Info 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 7
Tampa FL 33612

Academic Email: cmarinde@usf.edu

Academic Phone:(813) 974-2248

View My C.V.

Education

Interdisciplinary and Emerging Signature Programs

• Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Disease
• Metabolic Regulation and Disorders
• Neuroscience
• Women & Children's Health

Research Interests

• The early developmental environment plays a pivotal role in susceptibility to adulthood metabolic disease, such as obesity and diabetes. The long-term goal of this project is to understand how the maternal and embryonic environment alters gene expression, which ultimately leads to disease, via epigenetics. Epigenome of each individual is established during the egg-to-embryo transition, which is sensitive to teratogens, such as alcohol, bisphenol A, or dietary exposures. To identify the role of epigenetics in metabolic disease, I am using a naturally occurring “epigenetic barometer” allele (viable yellow) of the Agouti gene in mice, whose expression is controlled by methylation levels. Nutrigenomics & Healthspan. My long-term goal is to develop new mouse models of adult-onset metabolic diseases by monitoring in vivo physiology coupled with quantitative molecular genetics to detect genes and pathways involved with weight gain. This approach has been successful in identifying changes in eating, activity, and loss of circadian rhythms underlying “normal” weight fluctuations from across the lifespan.

Recent Publications

• Evsikov AV, Marín de Evsikova C. Friend or Foe: Epigenetic Regulation of Retrotransposons in Mammalian Oogenesis and Early Development. The Yale journal of biology and medicine. 89(4) : 487-497, 2016.
• Killeen A Marin de Evsikova C. Effects of sub-lethal teratogen exposure during larval development on egg laying and egg quality in adult Caenorhabditis elegans. F1000Res.. 5: 2925. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.8934.1. eCollection 2016., 2016.
• Joly-Amado A, Serraneau KS, Brownlow M, Marín de Evsikova C, Speakman JR, Gordon MN, Morgan D. Metabolic changes over the course of aging in a mouse model of tau deposition. Neurobiology of aging. 44: 62-73, 2016.
• Won J, Marín de Evsikova C, Smith RS, Hicks WL, Edwards MM, Longo-Guess C, Li T, Naggert JK, Nishina PM. NPHP4 is necessary for normal photoreceptor ribbon synapse maintenance and outer segment formation, and for sperm development. Human molecular genetics. 20(3) : 482-496, 2011.
• Edwards MM, Marín de Evsikova C, Collin GB, Gifford E, Wu J, Hicks WL, Whiting C, Varvel NH, Maphis N, Lamb BT, Naggert JK, Nishina PM, Peachey NS. Photoreceptor degeneration, azoospermia, leukoencephalopathy, and abnormal RPE cell function in mice expressing an early stop mutation in CLCN2. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science. 51(6) : 3264-3272, 2010.
• DeMambro VE, Kawai M, Clemens TL, Fulzele K, Maynard JA, Marín de Evsikova C, Johnson KR, Canalis E, Beamer WG, Rosen CJ, Donahue LR. A novel spontaneous mutation of Irs1 in mice results in hyperinsulinemia, reduced growth, low bone mass and impaired adipogenesis. The Journal of endocrinology. 204(3) : 241-253, 2010.
• Matsumura H, Kano K, Marín de Evsikova C, Young JA, Nishina PM, Naggert JK, Naito K. Transcriptome analysis reveals an unexpected role of a collagen tyrosine kinase receptor gene, Ddr2, as a regulator of ovarian function. Physiological genomics. 39(2) : 120-129, 2009.
• Evsikov AV, Marín de Evsikova C. Gene expression during the oocyte-to-embryo transition in mammals. Molecular reproduction and development. 76(9) : 805-818, 2009.
• Yuan R, Tsaih SW, Petkova SB, Marin de Evsikova C, Xing S, Marion MA, Bogue MA, Mills KD, Peters LL, Bult CJ, Rosen CJ, Sundberg JP, Harrison DE, Churchill GA, Paigen B. Aging in inbred strains of mice: study design and interim report on median lifespans and circulating IGF1 levels. Aging cell. 8(3) : 277-287, 2009.
• Evsikov AV, Marín de Evsikova C. Evolutionary origin and phylogenetic analysis of the novel oocyte-specific eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E in Tetrapoda. Development genes and evolution. 219(2) : 111-118, 2009.
• Ackert-Bicknell CLDemissie S, Marín de Evsikova C, Hsu YH, DeMambro VE, Karasik D, Cupples LA, Ordovas JM, Tucker KL, Cho K, Canalis E, Paigen B, Churchill GA, Forejt J, Beamer WG, Ferrari S, Bouxsein ML, Kiel DP, Rosen CJ. PPARG by dietary fat interaction influences bone mass in mice and humans. Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. 23(9) : 1398-1408, 2008.
• Kano K, Marín de Evsikova C, Young J, Wnek C, Maddatu TP, Nishina PM, Naggert JK. A novel dwarfism with gonadal dysfunction due to loss-of-function allele of the collagen receptor gene, Ddr2, in the mouse. Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.). 22(8) : 1866-1880, 2008.