Virginia Tech® home

Timothy Jarome

Associate Professor
  • Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Neuroscience
  • M.S., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Neuroscience
  • B.A., Kent State University, Psychology
2150 Litton-Reaves Hall

I was an undergraduate at Kent State University, where I received a BA in Psychology in 2006 while studying mechanisms of learning in rodents under the guidance of Dr. David Riccio. I did my graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, working in the behavioral neuroscience laboratory of Dr. Fred Helmstetter. It was there that I became interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory formation and modification that characterize much of my research today. In 2013 I became a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Farah Lubin’s laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where I began to study epigenetic mechanisms of memory formation. It is a combination of training that I received from these labs that have influenced my current research program. I joined the faculty at Virginia Tech in 2018, where I have established my lab examining the cellular, molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of memory formation and modification and age-related memory decline in neurons.  

Research in the Jarome's lab is focused on elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory formation and storage with an emphasis on fear memories and sex differences. The lab focuses on mechanisms of initial memory storage and those involved in memory modification following retrieval (recall), the latter of which has significant potential for the treatment of anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Currently, the lab has several areas of interest:

  1. The diverse functions of ubiquitin signaling in memory formation and modification
  2. The role of the ubiquitin-proteasome and epigenetic mechanisms in age-related memory decline
  3. Epigenetic mechanisms of obesity development

To address these topics, we combine a traditional rodent behavioral paradigm (Pavlovian fear conditioning) with a variety of traditional and modern molecular biology and neuroscience techniques. This includes using in vivo pharmacology, siRNA-mediated gene knockdown, CRIPSR-dCas9 transcriptional editing and CRISPR-dCas13 RNA editing to manipulate specific genes and/or cellular processes during learning or memory retrieval and analyzing the effects of these manipulations on the cellular memory storage process using western blotting, qRT-PCR, chromatin immunoprecipitation, methylated DNA immunoprecipitation, bisulfite sequencing, proteomics, transcriptomics and other molecular biology methods. Students who join the lab will have the opportunity to learn these techniques used in the lab and, as students advance, they will have the opportunity to take projects in new directions or initiate new topics

Prospective students interested in joining the lab should contact Dr. Jarome by email or check Jarome Lab.   

For a full list of Dr. Jarome’s publications, please visit PUMBED https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=jarome+t

Farrell, K., Auerbach, A., Musaus, M., Navabpour, S., Liu, C., Lin, Y., Xie, H. & Jarome, T.J. (2024). Phosphorylation of RPT6 controls its ability to bind DNA and regulate gene expression in the hippocampus during memory formation. Journal of Neuroscience, 44(4), 1453232023.

Farrell, K., Auerbach, A., Liu, C., Martin, K., Pareno, M., Ray, W.K., Helm, R.F., Biase, F. & Jarome, T.J. (2023). Sex-differences in proteasome-dependent K48-polyubiquitin signaling in the amygdala are developmentally regulated. Biology of Sex Differences, 14, 80.

Allen, L.M., Murphy, D.A., Moussa, M.N., Delgado, A., Jarome, T.J., Lee, K., Mattfield, A.T., Prather, R. & Allen, T.A. (2023). Spatial working memory testing in pigs using an automated T-Maze. Oxford Open Neuroscience, kvad010.

McFadden, T., Carcucci I., Farrell K., Fletchall E., & Jarome, T.J. (2023). Hypothalamic DNA 5-hydroxymethylation levels are altered by diet-induced weight gain during the development of obesity in a sex-specific manner. Brain Research, 1817, 148478.

Patrick, M.B., Omar, N., Werner, C.T., Mitra, S.  Jarome, T.J. (2023). The ubiquitin-proteasome system and learning-dependent synaptic plasticity – a 10 year update. Neuroscience & BioBehavioral Reviews, 105280.

Farrell, K., Musaus, M., Auerback, A., Navabpour, S., Ray, W.K., Helm, R.F. & Jarome, T.J. (2023). Lysine 63 polyubiquitination selectively regulates ATP synthesis and proteasome activity during fear memory formation in the female amygdala. Molecular Psychiatry, 6, 2594-2605.

McFadden, T., Gaito, N., Carucci, I., Fletchall, E., Farrell, K. & Jarome, T.J. (2023). Controlling hypothalamic DNA methylation at the Pomc promoter does not regulate weight grain during the development of obesity. PLoS One, 18(4), e0284286

Farrell, K.*, McFadden, T.* & Jarome, T.J. (2023). Neuronal and astrocytic protein degradation are critical for fear memory formation. Learning and Memory, 30, 1-4.

McFadden, T. Farrell, K., Martin, K., Musaus, M. & Jarome, T.J. (2023). Short-term exposure to an obesogenic diet causes dynamic dysregulation of proteasome-mediated protein degradation in the hypothalamus of female rats. Nutritional Neuroscience, 26, 290-302.

Farrell, K., Auerbach, A., Musaus, M. & Jarome, T.J. (2022). The epigenetic role of proteasome subunit RPT6 during memory formation in females. Learning and Memory, 29, 256-264

Gustin, A., Navabpour, N., Farrell, K., Martin, K., DuVall, J., Ray, W.K., Helm, R.F. & Jarome, T.J. (2022). Protein SUMOylation is a sex-specific regulator of fear memory formation in the amygdala. Behavioural Brain Research, 430, 113928.

Maity, S.*, Farrell, K.*, Navabpour, S.*, Narayanan, S.N. & Jarome, T.J. (2021). Epigenetic mechanisms in memory and cognitive decline associated with aging and Alzheimer’s disease. International Journal of Molecular Science, 22, 12280

Farrell, K.*, Musaus, M.*, Navabpour, S.*, Martin, K., Ray, W.K., Helm, R.F. & Jarome, T.J. (2021). Proteomic analysis reveals sex-specific protein degradation targets in the amygdala during fear memory formation. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 14, 716284

Martin, K., Musaus, M., Navabpour, S., Gustin, A., Ray, W.K., Helm, R.F. & Jarome, T.J. (2021). Females, but not males, require protein degradation in the hippocampus for context fear memory formation. Learning and Memory, 28, 248-253.

Musaus, M. Farrell, K., Navabpour, S., Ray, W.K., Helm, R.F. & Jarome, T.J. (2021). Sex-specific linear polyubiquitination is a critical regulator of contextual fear memory formation. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 15, 709392.

Farrell, K. & Jarome, T.J. (2021). Is PROTAC technology really game changing for central nervous system drug discovery? Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 1-8.

Jarome, T.J., Perez, G.A., Webb, W.M., Hatch, K.M., Navabpour, S., Musaus, M., Farrell, K., Hauser, R.M., McFadden, T., Martin, K., Butler, A.A., Wang, J. & Lubin, F.D. (2021). Ubiquitination of histone H2B by proteasomal RPT6 controls histone methylation chromatin dynamics during memory formation. Biological Psychiatry, 89, 1176-1187

Devulapalli, R.K.*, Jones, N.*, Farrell, K.*, Kugler, H., Musaus, M., McFadden, T., Orsi, S.A., Martin, K., Nelsen, J., Navabpour, S., O’Donnell, M., McCoig, E. & Jarome, T.J. (2021). Males and females differ in the engagement and regulation of, but not requirement for, protein degradation in the amygdala during fear memory formation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory¸ 180, 107404

Navabpour, S., Rogers, J., McFadden, T. & Jarome, T.J. (2020). DNA double-strand breaks are a critical regulator of fear memory reconsolidation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(23), 8995.

Musaus, M., Navabpour, S. & Jarome, T.J. (2020). The diversity of linkage-specific ubiquitin chains and their role in synaptic plasticity and memory formation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 174 (107286), 1-13.

McFadden, T., Musaus, M., Nelsen, J.L., Martin, K., Jones, N., Smith, P., Kugler, H. & Jarome, T.J. (2020). Dysregulation of protein degradation in the hippocampus is associated with impaired spatial memory during the development of obesity. Behavioural Brain Research, 393, 1-11.

Navabpour, S., Kwapis, J.L.* & Jarome, T.J.* (2020) A neuroscientist’s guide to transgenic mice and other genetic tools. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 732-748

Devulapalli, R.K., Nelsen, J.L., Orsi, S.A., McFadden, T., Navabpour, S., Jones, N., Martin, K., O’Donnell, M., McCoig, E.L. & Jarome, T.J. (2019). Males and females differ in the subcellular and brain region dependent regulation of proteasome activity by CaMKII and Protein Kinase A. Neuroscience, 418, 1-14

Orsi, S.A., Devulapalli, R.K., Nelsen, J.L., McFadden, T., Surineni, R. & Jarome, T.J. (2019). Distinct subcellular changes in proteasome activity and linkage-specific protein polyubiquitination in the amygdala during the consolidation and reconsolidation of a fear memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 157, 1-11.

Jarome, T.J., Devulapalli, R.K. (2018). The ubiquitin-proteasome system and memory: Moving beyond protein degradation. The Neuroscientist, 24, 639-651

Jarome, T.J., Perez, G.A., Hauser, R.M., Hatch K.M. & Lubin, F.D. (2018). Ezh2 methyltransferase activity controls Pten expression and mTOR signaling during memory reconsolidation. Journal of Neuroscience, 38, 7635-7648