Gregory R. Romapala presented and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on January 29, 2018. Greg was a graduate student in the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. The title of his thesis was “Role of paternal preconception environment in ethanol- and stress-related phenotypes.” This research was conducted in the laboratory of Gregg E. Homanics, PhD, professor of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, and Neurobiology.
While the importance of maternal health during pregnancy for proper offspring development is well-acknowledged, a potential role for preconception health - especially that of the father - is rarely considered. Greg’s thesis tested the hypothesis that paternal preconception environment alters ethanol- and stress-related phenotypes via epigenetic mechanisms in sperm. Initial experiments revealed that paternal preconception chronic ethanol blunted the corticosterone response to acute stress, prevented stress-induced polydipsia, and altered genetic and epigenetic regulation of corticotropin-releasing factor in the hypothalamus in male offspring. In addition, paternal preconception chronic stress reduced ethanol drinking behavior selectively in male offspring. Subsequent experiments examined the effects of chronic ethanol on small noncoding RNA in sperm, an epigenetic mechanism causally implicated in the cross-generational effects of paternal preconception environment. In summary, paternal preconception environment impacts ethanol- and stress- related behavior in offspring, possibly via small noncoding RNAs in the germline and epididymal extracellular vesicles.
Greg recently transitioned to a postdoctoral position at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City where he will continue working on the cross generational effects of drugs of abuse.