{"id":4710,"date":"2016-08-15T14:57:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/directory\/mark-zylka-phd\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:54:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:54:55","slug":"mark-zylka-phd","status":"publish","type":"directory","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/directory\/mark-zylka-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Zylka, PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

W.R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor
\nUNC-Chapel Hill<\/p>\n

\n

Education and Training<\/h3>\n

Virginia Tech, BS, Biochemistry
\nHarvard Medical School, PhD, Neurobiology
\nCalifornia Institute of Technology, Postdoc, Neurobiology<\/p>\n

Areas of Interest<\/h3>\n

Mechanisms and therapeutics for autism and pain<\/p>\n

Recent whole exome sequencing studies identified hundreds of genes linked to autism, many of which are transcriptional regulators. My lab is studying a number of these transcriptional regulators using genome-wide approaches to determine how they contribute to autism. This work includes cellular and behavioral studies with neuronal cultures and autism mouse models. We are also using high-throughput sequencing approaches to identify chemical risk factors for autism and other brain disorders, including neurodegeneration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our pain research is focused on studying a number of lipid kinases, some of which may represent new therapeutic targets for chronic pain. We are also using circuit-based approaches to dissect pain pathways in the periphery and in the brain. A key goal is to better understand the molecules and circuits that transduce pain so that new therapeutics can be developed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awards and Honors<\/span><\/h3>\n

2006-2008: Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
\n2006-2009: Klingenstein Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences
\n2007-2010: Searle Scholar
\n2007-2010: Rita Allen Foundation-Milton E. Cassel Scholar* (*awarded to highest-ranked scholar<\/em>)
\n2013: NIH Pioneer Award <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Affiliations<\/span><\/h3>\n

Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities<\/a><\/span>
\nNeuroscience Center<\/a>
\nNeurobiology Curriculum<\/a>
\nBioinformatics and Computional Biology<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor<\/strong>\r\nOffice:\u00a0 7008B MEJ\r\nPhone: \u00a0919-966-2540\r\n<a class=\"email-link\" title=\"\" href=\"mailto:zylka@med.unc.edu\" target=\"_self\">Email<\/a> | <a class=\"external-link\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/zylkalab.org\/\" target=\"_self\">Webpage<\/a><\/p>"],"_upd_no_link":[],"_upd_degree1":["PhD"],"_upd_degree2":[],"_upd_email":[[{"email_text":"zylka@med.unc.edu"}]],"_upd_phone":[[{"phone_text":"919-966-2540","phone_type":"Office Phone"}]],"_upd_address":[[{"address":{"address-1":"7008B Mary Ellen Jones","address-2":"Campus Box 7545","campus-box":"","city":"Chapel Hill","state":"NC","zip":"27599-7545"}}]],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory\/4710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/directory"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory\/4710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15908,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/directory\/4710\/revisions\/15908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}