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Academic Degrees
Ph.D. Zoology,
Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg,
Russia (1997)
B.S. Biology,
St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia (1991)
Professional Experience
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Since 2008 |
Associate
Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte,
NC |
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2002-2008 |
Assistant
Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte,
NC |
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2001-2002 |
Post-doctoral
Fellow, University of Guelph, Guelph ON, Canada |
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1999-2001 |
Alexander
von Humboldt Post-doctoral Fellow, Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar
and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
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1997-2001 |
Research
Fellow, White Sea Biological Station, Zoological Institute of Russian
Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia |

Courses
Taught:
BIOL 3144 Ecology
BIOL 4600 Senior Seminar
BIOL 4000/5000 Ecotoxicology
BIOL 4000/5000 Comparative Animal Physiology
BIOL 6000/8000 Ecotoxicology
BIOL
6000/8000 Environmental Toxicology and Health
Laboratory
Courses:
BIOL 2111 Cell
Biology Lab
BIOL 3144L Ecology Laboratory
Web designer for BIOL3144L Ecology Lab (click
here
for the webpage for instructors)
Feodor Lynen Fellowship
Research Opportunities for
Undergraduates
Ecological
Physiology and Adaptation in Marine Poikilotherms
The
overarching theme of our research is a study of physiological mechanisms of
environmental adaptation and stress tolerance in marine
poikilotherms. In today’s
world, geological forces have combined with past and present human
activities to cause an extremely rapid environmental change, one that is
often too strong and too fast to permit the long process of evolutionary
adaptation to complete. The survival of many species in this rapidly changing
environment will depend on their abilities to cope with stress and to
quickly adjust their physiology to environmental change.
We use experimental and comparative approaches in
order to understand how environmental stressors (such as temperature, pollution,
ocean acidification, anoxia/hypoxia) or disease may limit survival and distribution of marine
poikilotherms (especially invertebrates). This understanding is crucial for the understanding of the
fate of populations of poikilotherms, which comprise >95% of marine animal
biodiversity, in the face of the global environmental change.
Research
areas
Research in our lab is focused in
the three main areas:
Environmental Physiology and Toxicology
Metabolic Physiology and
Bioenergetics
Invertebrate Immunology
and Host-Parasite Relationships
Models
We use
marine mollusks (oysters and snails) as models for our research. They
are common organisms in marine coastal ecosystems, and their physiology and
genetics is fairly well known to make them useful model objects; in fact,
they are quickly becoming aquatic counterparts of the fruit fly.
Current research
projects
Effects of environmental stressors on
metabolism and bioenergetics of marine organisms.
Energy metabolism plays a key role in stress adaptation and tolerance of
all organisms by providing the energy needed for maintenance,
stress protection, survival, growth and reproduction. My lab is
interested in understanding of the effects of elevated temperatures and
ocean acidification (such as are expected in case of the global climate change),
heavy metals pollution and oxygen deficiency (hypoxia and anoxia) on bioenergetics of marine poikilotherms. We use
oysters who are among the animal champions of the stress survival, as model species.
We focus our attention on the effects of these environmental
stressors on mitochondria, which are main powerhouses of the cell
providing ATP to fuel all energy-dependent cellular processes. We study how
environmental stressors affect ATP production, proton leak and
efficiency of oyster mitochondria, which consequences the mitochondrial
changes have for the whole-organism physiology and metabolism, and which
physiological and cellular mechanisms allow oysters to keep their energy
balance positive (i.e. to match their energy demand with energy supply),
which is required for survival and ultimately adaptation under conditions
of the environmental stress.
Apoptosis
and immune defense in oysters
Dermo disease
caused by the obligatory intracellular protozoan Perkinsus marinus
is a major factor responsible for extensive oyster mortalities along the
entire eastern US seaboard, threatening both aquacultured and wild
populations of oysters. To alleviate these devastating effects there is
an urgent need to develop efficient means of control and prevention of
Dermo disease, which requires knowledge of the molecular mechanisms how
the parasite evades the host immune defense.
Apoptosis (also called programmed cell
death or cell suicide) plays a key role in immunity by eliminating
diseased cells and cells containing pathogens such as
Perkinsus. In
our lab, we study the role of apoptosis as an immune defense
mechanism in oysters, and investigate the mechanisms by which the
parasite can suppress this immune defense. We hope that these
studies will not only shed a new important light on the functioning of
the invertebrate immune systems but also provide novel avenues to combat
a major foe of eastern oysters (and of the oyster industry) – the Dermo
disease.
From the field to the
lab... And back in the field again!
Although a fair bit of our
research is done in the lab using biochemical, molecular and cellular
techniques, the ultimate goal of our studies is to understand the effects
of environmental stressors at the whole organism level and the
consequences, which it can have for the field populations experiencing
stress in their natural habitats. Therefore, our laboratory studies are
tightly linked with the studies of animals in their natural habitats. We
compare animals from different environments (e.g. warm and cold, polluted
and unpolluted) in order to see how our lab predictions hold in the field.
Click here for snapshots of our
field and lab endeavors.
The People
Funding:
NSF
NIH
North Carolina Sea Grant
US Department of
Agriculture
Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation
Biographical
Sketch
Selected
Recent Publications
Click here for the
complete publication list
[*Indicates a student co-author]
Sokolova
I.M. (2009). Apoptosis in molluscan immune defense. Invertebrate
Survival Journal 6: 49-58 (invited review). Open Access:
http://www.isj.unimo.it/articoli/ISJ183.pdf
Kern B.,
Ivanina A.V.*, Piontkivska H., Sokolov E.P., Sokolova I.M. (2009).
Molecular characterization and expression of a novel homolog of
uncoupling protein 5 (UCP5) from the eastern oyster Crassostrea
virginica (Gmelin) (Bivalvia: Ostreidae). Comparative Biochemistry
and Physiology D 4: 121-127.
Granovitch A.I., Yagunova E.B.*, Maximovich A.N.*, Sokolova I.M.(2009).
Elevated female fecundity as a possible compensatory mechanism in
response to trematode infestation in populations of Littorina
saxatilis (Olivi). International Journal of Parasitology (in
press).
Ivanina A.I.*, Taylor C.*, Sokolova I.M. (2009). Effects of elevated
temperature and cadmium exposure on stress protein response in eastern
oysters Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). Aquatic Toxicology
91: 245-254.
Sokolova I.M. (2008). Poikilotherms. In: S. E. Jorgensen & B. D.
Fath (eds). Encyclopedia of Ecology, 1st Edition, Elsevier B.V., Oxford.
Pp. 2851-2854. (invited chapter).
Sokolova I.M. (2008). Temperature regulation. In: S. E. Jorgensen
& B. D. Fath (eds). Encyclopedia of Ecology, 1st Edition, Elsevier B.V.,
Oxford. Pp. 3509-3516. (invited chapter).
Sokolova I.M., Lannig G. (2008). Interactive
effects of metal pollution and temperature on metabolism in aquatic
ectotherms: Implications of global climate change.
Climate Research 37: 181-201. (invited review).
Ivanina A.V.*, Habinck E.*, Sokolova I.M.
(2008). Differential sensitivity to cadmium of key mitochondrial enzymes
in the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica Gmelin (Bivalvia:
Ostreidae). Comparative Biochemistry
and Physiology C 148: 72-79.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpc.2008.03.009
Ivanina A.V.*, Sokolova I.M. (2008). Effects of
cadmium exposure on expression and activity of P-glycoprotein in eastern
oysters, Crassostrea virginica Gmelin. Aquatic Toxicology
88:19-28.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2008.02.014
Ivanina A.V.*, Sokolova I.M., Sukhotin A.A.
(2008). Oxidative stress and expression of chaperones in aging mollusks.
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology A 150: 53-61.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpb.2008.01.005
Lannig G., Bock C., Cherkasov A.*, Pörtner H.O.,
Sokolova I.M. (2008). Cadmium-dependent oxygen limitation affects
temperature tolerance in eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica
Gmelin). American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and
Comparative Physiology 294:1338-1346.
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/294/4/R1338
Ivanina A.V.*, Cherkasov A.S.*,
Sokolova I.M. (2008). Effects of cadmium on cellular protein and
glutathione synthesis and expression of stress proteins in eastern
oysters, Crassostrea virginica Gmelin. Journal of
Experimental Biology 211: 577-586.
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/211/4/577
Sanni B.*, Williams K.*, Sokolov E.P.,
Sokolova I.M. (2008). Effects of acclimation temperature and cadmium
exposure on mitochondrial aconitase and LON protease from a model marine
ectotherm, Crassostrea virginica. Comparative Biochemistry
and Physiology C 147: 101 - 112.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpc.2007.08.005
Cherkasov A.S.*, Grewal S.*, Sokolova
I.M. (2007). Combined effects of temperature and cadmium exposure on
haemocyte apoptosis and cadmium accumulation in the eastern oyster
Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). Journal of Thermal Biology
32 (3): 162 - 170.
Cherkasov A.S.*, Overton, R.A. Jr*,
Sokolov E.P., Sokolova I.M. (2007). Temperature-dependent effects of
cadmium and purine nucleotides on mitochondrial aconitase from a marine
ectotherm, Crassostrea virginica: a role of temperature in
oxidative stress and allosteric enzyme regulation.
Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 46-55. http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/210/1/46
Featured on "Inside JEB"
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/210/1/ii
Lannig G., Flores J.F., Sokolova I.M.
(2006). Temperature-dependent stress response in oysters, Crassostrea
virginica: Pollution reduces temperature tolerance in oysters.
Aquatic Toxicology 79: 278-287.
Cherkasov A.S.*, Ringwood A.H., Sokolova
I.M. (2006). Effects of cadmium exposure on mitochondrial function are modulated
by acclimation temperature in eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica
Gmelin (Bivalvia: Ostreidae). Environmental Toxicology &
Chemistry 25: 2461-2469.
Lannig G., Cherkasov A.S.*, Sokolova I.M.
(2006). Temperature-dependent effects of cadmium on mitochondrial and
whole-organism bioenergetics of oysters (Crassostrea virginica).
Marine Environmental Research 62: S79-S82.
Sokolova I.M., Oliver J.D., Leamy L.J.
(2006). An AFLP approach to identify genetic markers associated with
resistance to Vibrio vulnificus and Perkinsus marinus in
eastern oysters. Journal of Shellfish
Research 25: 95-100.
Cherkasov A.S.*, Biswas P.K., Ridings
D.M., Ringwood A.H., Sokolova I.M. (2006). Effects of acclimation temperature
and cadmium exposure on cellular energy budgets in a marine mollusk
Crassostrea virginica: Linking cellular and mitochondrial responses.
Journal of Experimental Biology 209:1274-1284.
Sokolova I.M., Leamy L., Harrison M.*, Oliver J.D.
(2005). Intrapopulational variation in Vibrio
vulnificus levels in Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin 1971) is
associated with the host size but not with disease status or
developmental stability. Journal of Shellfish
Research 24: 503-508.
Sokolova
I.M., Ringwood A.H., Johnson C.* (2005). Tissue-specific
accumulation of cadmium in subcellular compartments of eastern oysters
Crassostrea virginica Gmelin (Bivalvia: Ostreidae). Aquatic
Toxicology 74: 218-228.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/ (doi:10.1016/j.aquatox.2005.05.012)
Sokolova I.M., Sokolov E.P., Ponnappa
K.M.* (2005).Cadmium exposure affects mitochondrial bioenergetics and
gene
expression of key mitochondrial proteins in the eastern oyster
Crassostrea virginica Gmelin (Bivalvia: Ostreidae). Aquatic
Toxicology 73: 242- 255.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Sokolova I.M., Sokolov E.P. (2005). Evolution of mitochondrial uncoupling
proteins: Novel invertebrate UCP homologues suggest early evolutionary
divergence of the UCP family. FEBS Letters 579: 313-317
http://www.febsletters.org/article/PIIS0014579304015340/abstract
Sokolova I.M., Evans S.*, Hughes F.M. (2004). Cadmium-induced apoptosis
in oyster hemocytes involves disturbance of cellular energy balance but no
mitochondrial permeability transition. Journal of Experimental
Biology 207: 3369-3380.
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/207/19/3369
Sokolova I.M. (2004). Cadmium effects on mitochondrial function are
enhanced by elevated temperatures in a marine poikilotherm, Crassostrea
virginica Gmelin (Bivalvia: Ostreidae). Journal of Experimental
Biology 207: 2639-2648.
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/207/15/2639.pdf
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