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Office of Research Services

Serving the NIH Community

Patricia Zerfas

​Title

Biologist

Education & Certifications

MS, University of Maryland - College Park

Specialties or Areas of Expertise

  • Ultrastructure
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kidney

Personal Interests

  • Biathlon
  • Cross country ski
  • Hiking

Publications

  • Hair keratin mutations in tooth enamel increase dental decay risk. Duverger O, Ohara T, Shaffer JR, Donahue D, Zerfas P, Dullnig A, Crecelius C, Beniash E, Marazita ML, Morasso MI. J Clin Invest. 2014 Dec 1; 124(12):5219-24

  • Fibromodulin and Biglycan Modulate Periodontium through TGFß/BMP Signaling.Wang L, Foster BL, Kram V, Nociti FH Jr, Zerfas PM, Tran AB, Young MF, Somerman MJ. J Dent Res. 2014 Jun 25;93(8):780-787.

  • Acute metabolic decompensation due to influenza in a mouse model of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. McGuire PJ, Tarasenko TN, Wang T, Levy E, Zerfas PM, Moran T, Lee HS, Bequette BJ, Diaz GA. Dis Model Mech. 2014 Feb;7(2):205-13. 

  • Manoli I, Sysol JR, Li L, Houillier P, Garone C, Wang C, Zerfas PM, Cusmano-Ozog K, Young S, Trivedi NS, Cheng J, Sloan JL, Chandler RJ, Abu-Asab M, Tsokos M, Elkahloun AG, Rosen S, Enns GM, Berry GT, Hoffmann V, DiMauro S, Schnermann J, Venditti CP. Targeting proximal tubule mitochondrial dysfunction attenuates the renal disease of methylmalonic acidemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Aug 13; 110(33):13552-7. 

  • Haddad MR, Donsante A, Zerfas P, Kaler SG. Fetal Brain-directed AAV Gene Therapy Results in Rapid, Robust, and Persistent Transduction of Mouse Choroid Plexus Epithelia. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 2013 Jun 25;2:e101.

  • Gozalo AS, Zerfas PM, Starost MF, Lambert LE, Elkins WR. Pancreatic endocrine tumour with disseminated pulmonary thromboembolism in an owl monkey (Aotus nancymae). J Comp Pathol. 2013 Jul;149(1):132-6. 

  • Foster BL, Soenjaya Y, Nociti FH Jr, Holm E, Zerfas PM, Wimer HF, Holdsworth DW, Aubin JE, Hunter GK, Goldberg HA, Somerman MJ. Deficiency in acellular cementum and periodontal attachment in bsp null mice. J Dent Res. 2013 Feb;92(2):166-72. 

  • Kakani S, Yardeni T, Poling J, Ciccone C, Niethamer T, Klootwijk ED, Manoli I, Darvish D, Hoogstraten-Miller S, Zerfas P, Tian E, Ten Hagen KG, Kopp JB, Gahl, WA, Huizing M The Gne M712T Mouse as a model for Human Glomerulopathy Am J. Pathol 2012 April;180 (4) 1431-40. 

  • Niethamer TK, Yardeni T, Leoyklang P, Ciccone C, Astiz-Martinez A, Jacobs K, Dorward HM, Zerfas PM, Gahl WA, Huizing M. Oral monosaccharide therapies to reverse renal and muscle hyposialylation in a mouse model of GNE myopathy. Mol Genet Metab. 2012 Dec;107(4):748-55. 

  • Ball ER, Matsuda MM, Dye L, Hoffmann V, Zerfas PM, Szarek E, Rich A, Chitnis AB, Stratakis CA. Ultra-structural identification of interstitial cells of Cajal in the zebrafish Danio rerio. Cell Tissue Res. 2012 Aug;349(2):483-91.  

  • Zhang Y, Conti MA, Malide D, Dong F, Wang A, Shmist YA, Liu C, Zerfas P, Daniels MP, Chan CC, Kozin E, Kachar B, Kelley MJ, Kopp JB, Adelstein RS Mouse models of MYH9 related disease: mutations in nonmuscle myosin II-A.  Blood 2011 Sep 8.  

  • Donsante A, Yi L, Zerfas PM, Brinster LR, Sullivan P, Goldstein DS, Prohaska J, Centeno JA, Rushing E, Kaler SG. ATP7A Gene addition to the Choroid Plexus results in Long-Term rescue of the Lethal Copper Transport Defect in a Menkes Disease Mouse Model. Mol. Ther. 2011 Aug 30.  

  • Michaud CR, Ragland DR, Shea KI, Zerfas PM, Kastenmayer RJ, St Claire MC, Elkins WR, Gozalo AS. Spontaneous Pulmonary Alveolor Proteinosis in Captive “Moustached Tamarins” (Saguinus Mystax; Primates Callitrichidae). Vet Pathol 2011 Jul 6.  

  • Yadav H, Quijano C, Kamaraju AK, Gavrilova O, Malek R, Chen W, Zerfas P, Zhigang D, Wright EC, Stuelten C, Sun P, Lonning S, Skarulis M, Sumner AE, Finkel T, Rane SG. Protection for Obesity and Diabetes by Blockade of TGF-B/Smad3 Signaling.  Cell Metab.  2011 Jul 6; 14 (1): 67-79.  

  • Szabova L, Son MY, Shi J, Sramko M, Yamada SS, Swaim WD, Zerfas P, Kahan S, Holmbeck K. Membrane-type MMPs are indispensable for placental labyrinth formation and development. Blood. 2010 Dec 16;116(25):5752-61.  

  • Jha KN, Wong L, Zerfas PM, De Silva RS, Fan YX, Spiridonov NA, Johnson GR. Identification of a novel HSP70-binding cochaperone critical to HSP90-mediated activation of small serine/threonine kinase. J Biol Chem. 2010 Nov 5;285(45):35180-7.  

  • Gozalo AS, Zerfas PM, Starost MF, Elkins WR, Clarke CL. Splenic angioleiomyoma in an owl monkey (Aotus nancymae). J Med Primatol. 2010 Dec;39(6):385-8.  

  • Zerfas PM, Brinster LR, Starost MF, Burkholder TH, Raffeld M, Eckhaus MA. Amelanotic melanoma in a New Zealand White Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Vet Pathol. 2010 Sep;47(5):977-81.  

  • Murphy GE, Lowekamp BC, Zerfas PM, Chandler RJ, Narasimha R, Venditti CP, Subramaniam S. Ion-abrasion scanning electron microscopy reveals distorted liver mitochondrial morphology in murine methylmalonic acidemia. J Struct Biol. 2010 Aug;171(2):125-32.  

  • Starost MF, Tsang K, Zerfas PM, Stratakis CA. A rhabdomyoma within a multilocular thymic cyst in a p53-null mouse.Vet Pathol. 2010 Jan;47(1):132-6.  

  • Ma X, Takeda K, Singh A, Yu ZX, Zerfas P, Blount A, Liu C, Towbin JA, Schneider MD, Adelstein RS, Wei Q. Conditional ablation of nonmuscle myosin II-B delineates heart defects in adult mice. Circ Res. 2009 Nov 20;105(11):1102-9.  

  • Chandler RJ, Zerfas PM, Shanske S, Sloan J, Hoffmann V, DiMauro S, Venditti CP.  Mitochondrial dysfunction in mut methylmalonic acidemia. FASEB J. 2009 Apr;23 (4): 1252-61.  

  • Tao X, Fan F, Hoffmann V, Gao CY, Longo NS, Zerfas P, Lipsky PE. Effective therapy for nephritis in (NZB X NZW) F1 mice with triptolide and tripdiolide, the principal active components of the Chinese herbal remedy Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. Arthritis Rheum. 2008 Jun 58 (6): 1774-83.  

  • Faulhaber-Walter R. Chen I , Oppermann M, Kim SM, Huang Y Hiramatsu N, Mizel D, Kajiyama  H, Zerfas P, Briggs JP, Kopp JB, Schmermann J. Lack of Al adenosine receptors augments diabetic hyperfiltiration and glomeruli injury. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2008 Apr; 19 (4): 722-39.  

  • Clarke CI, Eckhaus MA, Zerfas PM, Elkins WR. Peripheral edema with hypoalbuminermia in a nonhuman primate infected with simian-human immunodeficiency virus: a case report. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2008 Jan; 47 (1): 42-8.  

  • Hartley, JW, Evan LH, Green KY, Naghashfar Z, Macias AR, Zerfas PM, Ward JM. Expression of infectious murine leukemia viruses by RAW264.7 cells, a potential complication for studies with a widely used mouse macrophage cell line. Retrovirology, 2008, Jan 4, 5:1.  

  • Sugui, J.A., Pardo, J., Chang, Y.C., Mullbacher, A., Zarember, K.A., Galvez, E.M., Brinster, L., Zerfas, P., Gallin, J.I., Simon, M.M and Kwon-Chung, K.J.  Role of laeA in the Regulation of alb1, gliP, Conidial Morphology, and Virulence in Aspergillus fumigatus. Eukaryotic Cell Sept. 2007 1552-61.  

  • Geleano, B, Klootwijk, R., Manoli, I., Sun, M., Ciccone, C., Darvish, D., Starost, M.F., Zerfas, P.M., Hoffmann, V.J., Hoogstraten-Miller, S., Krasnewich, D.M., Gahl, W.A. and Huizing, M.  Mutation in the key enzyme of sialic acid biosynthesis causes severe glomerular proteinuria and is rescued by N-acetylmannosamine. J. Clin Inv. 107(6): 1585-94.  

  • Wassif, C.A., Brownson, K.E., Sterner, A.L., Forlino, A., Zerfas, P.M., Wilson, W.K., Starost, M.F. and Porter, F.D. HEM Dysplasia and ichthyosis are likely laminopathies and not due to 3 B-hydroxysterol delta 14 reductase deficiency.  Human Molecular Genetics 2007, 16(10): 1176-1187.  

  • Li, W, Sandhoff, R, Kono, M., Zerfas, P, Hoffmann, V, Char-Hoa Ding, B, Proia, R.L., Deng, C., Depletion of ceramides with very long chain fatty aids causes defective skin permeability barrrier function, and neonatal lethality in ELOV12 deficient mice. Int. J. Biol. Sci. 2007, 3(2) 120-128.  

  • Hope WW, Kruhlak MJ Lyman CA, Petraitiene R, Petraitis V, Francesconi A, Kasai M, Mickiene D, Sein T, Peter J, Kelaher AM, Hughes JE, Cotton MP, Cotten CJ, Bacher J, Tripathi S, Bermudez L, Maugel TK, Zerfas PM, Wingard JR, Drusano GL, Walsh TJ. Pathogenesis of Aspergillus fumigatus and the Kinetics of Galactomannan in an In Vitro Model of Early Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis: Implications for Antifungal Therapy.  J Infect Dis. 2007 Feb 1;195(3):455-66.  

  • Chang YC, Jong A, Huang S, Zerfas P, Kwon-Chung KJ. CPS1, a homolog of the Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3 polysaccharide synthase gene, is important for the pathobiology of Cryptococcus neoformans.  Infect Immun. 2006 Jul;74(7):3930-8.  

  • Wang RH, Li C, Xu X, Zheng Y, Xiao C, Zerfas P, Cooperman S, Eckhaus M, Rouault T, Mishra L, Deng CX.  A role of SMAD4 in iron metabolism through the positive regulation of hepcidin expression. Cell Metab. 2005 Dec;2(6):399-409.  

  • Loftus, S.K., Cannons, J.L., Incao, A., Pak, E., Chen, A., Zerfas, P.M., Bryant, M.A., Biesecker, L.G., Schwartzberg, P.L. and Pavan, W.J.  Pancpin gene deletion causes acinar cell apoptosis in a mouse model for pancreatic insufficiency.  PloS Genetics. 2005 Sep 23; 1(3):e38.  

  • Spiridonov, N.A., Wong, L., Zerfas, P.M., Starost, M.F., Pack, S.D., Paweletz, C.P. and Johnson, G.R.  Identification and Characterization of SSTK: a Serine/Threonine Protein Kinase Essential for Male Fertility.  Mol.Cell Biol. 2005 May;25(10): 4250-61.  

  • Zhang, B.J., Kusaon, K., Zerfas, P., Iacangelo, A., Young, W.S. 3rd and Gainer, H.  Targeting of green flourescent protein to secretory granules in oxytocin magnocellular neurons and it secretion form neurohypophysial nerve terminals in transgenic mice. Endocrinology 143 (3): 1036-1046.  2002.  

  • Jung, S.C., Han, I.P., Limaye, A., Xu, R., Gelderman, M.P., Zerfas, P., Tirumalai, K., Murray, G.J., During, M.J., Brady, R.O. and Qasba, P. Adeno-associated viral vector-mediated gene transfer results in long-term enzymatic and functional correction in multiple organs of Fabry mice.  PNAS 98: 2676-81.  2001.  

  • Ohshima, T., Schiffman, R., Murray, G., Ward, J., Kopp, J., Quirk, J., Stahl, S., Zerfas, P., Tao-Cheng, J-H., Brady, R. and Kulkarni, A.  Aging accentuates and bone marrow transplantation ameliorates metabolic defects in Fabry disease mice.  PNAS 96:6423-27, May 1999.  

  • Du*, J., Tao-Cheng*, J-H., Zerfas, P. and McBain, C.J. (*equal contributions) The K+ channel, Kv2.1 is apposed to astrocytic processes and is associated with inhibitory postsynaptic membranes in hippocampal and cortical principal neurons and inhibitory interneurons. Neuroscience May: 84(1): 37-48.  1998. 

  • Zerfas, P.M., Kessel, M.D., Quintero, E.J. and Weiner, R.M. Fine Structure Evidence for Cell Membrane Partitioning of the Nucleoid and Cytoplasm during Bud Formation in Hyphomonas Species. J. Bact. 179:148-156. 1997.