Melissa Rolls

Lead Huck Graduate Chair; Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences; Director of the Center for Cellular Dynamics; Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Melissa Rolls

Research Summary

Subcellular compartmentalization of neurons. The cellular basis of neuronal polarity and neuronal responses to injury including degeneration and regeneration.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

Links

Most Recent Publications

Endocytosis of Wnt ligands from surrounding epithelial cells positions microtubule nucleation sites at dendrite branch points

Pankajam Thyagarajan, Hannah S. Mirshahi, Gregory O. Kothe, Nitish Kumar, Melissa Long, Bowofoluwa S. Abimbola, Alexis T. Weiner, Melissa M. Rolls, 2025, PLoS Biology

Voltage-gated calcium channels act upstream of adenylyl cyclase Ac78C to promote timely initiation of dendrite regeneration

J. Ian Hertzler, Jiajing Teng, Annabelle R. Bernard, Michelle C. Stone, Hannah L. Kline, Gibarni Mahata, Nitish Kumar, Melissa M. Rolls, 2024, PLoS Genetics

Minimal Mechanisms of Microtubule Length Regulation in Living Cells

Anna C. Nelson, Melissa M. Rolls, Maria Veronica Ciocanel, Scott A. McKinley, 2024, The Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics

Out with the old, in with the new: Dendrite degeneration and regeneration

James I. Hertzler, Melissa M. Rolls, 2023, on p. 107-134

Ciliated sensory neurons can regenerate axons after complete axon removal

Michelle C. Stone, Abigail S. Mauger, Melissa M. Rolls, 2023, Journal of Experimental Biology

Dendrite regeneration mediates functional recovery after complete dendrite removal

J. Ian Hertzler, Annabelle R. Bernard, Melissa M. Rolls, 2023, Developmental Biology on p. 18-25

The exocyst complex is required for developmental and regenerative neurite growth in vivo

Rachel D. Swope, J. Ian Hertzler, Michelle C. Stone, Gregory O. Kothe, Melissa M. Rolls, 2022, Developmental Biology on p. 1-13

The MAP3Ks DLK and LZK Direct Diverse Responses to Axon Damage in Zebrafish Peripheral Neurons

Kadidia Pemba Adula, Matthew Shorey, Vasudha Chauhan, Khaled Nassman, Shu Fan Chen, Melissa M. Rolls, Alvaro Sagasti, 2022, Journal of Neuroscience on p. 6195-6210

Dendrite regeneration in the vertebrate spinal cord

Michelle C. Stone, Dylan Y. Seebold, Matthew Shorey, Gregory O. Kothe, Melissa M. Rolls, 2022, Developmental Biology on p. 114-119

Microtubule polarity is instructive for many aspects of neuronal polarity

Pankajam Thyagarajan, Chengye Feng, David Lee, Matthew Shorey, Melissa M. Rolls, 2022, Developmental Biology on p. 56-70

Most-Cited Papers

Neuronal polarity: An evolutionary perspective

Melissa M. Rolls, Timothy J. Jegla, 2015, Journal of Experimental Biology on p. 572-580

Patronin-mediated minus end growth is required for dendritic microtubule polarity

Chengye Feng, Pankajam Thyagarajan, Matthew Shorey, Dylan Y. Seebold, Alexis T. Weiner, Richard M. Albertson, Kavitha S. Rao, Alvaro Sagasti, Daniel J. Goetschius, Melissa M. Rolls, 2019, Journal of Cell Biology on p. 2309-2328

Spastin, atlastin, and ER relocalization are involved in axon but not dendrite regeneration

Kavitha Rao, Michelle C. Stone, Alexis T. Weiner, Kyle W. Gheres, Chaoming Zhou, David L. Deitcher, Edwin S. Levitan, Melissa M. Rolls, 2016, Molecular Biology of the Cell on p. 3245-3256

Pervasive genetic interactions modulate neurodevelopmental defects of the autism-Associated 16p11.2 deletion in Drosophila melanogaster

Janani Iyer, Mayanglambam Dhruba Singh, Matthew Jensen, Payal Patel, Lucilla Pizzo, Emily Huber, Haley Koerselman, Alexis T. Weiner, Paola Lepanto, Komal Vadodaria, Alexis Kubina, Qingyu Wang, Abigail Talbert, Sneha Yennawar, Jose Badano, J. Robert Manak, Melissa M. Rolls, Arjun Krishnan, Santhosh Girirajan, 2018, Nature Communications

Endosomal Wnt signaling proteins control microtubule nucleation in dendrites

Alexis T. Weiner, Dylan Y. Seebold, Pedro Torres-Gutierrez, Christin Folker, Rachel D. Swope, Gregory O. Kothe, Jessica G. Stoltz, Madeleine K. Zalenski, Christopher Kozlowski, Dylan J. Barbera, Mit A. Patel, Pankajam Thyagarajan, Matthew Shorey, Derek M.R. Nye, Matthew Keegan, Kana Behari, Song Song, Jeffrey D. Axelrod, Melissa M. Rolls, 2020, PLoS Biology

The microtubule-severing protein fidgetin acts after dendrite injury to promote their degeneration

Juan Tao, Chengye Feng, Melissa M. Rolls, 2016, The Quarterly journal of microscopical science on p. 3274-3281

Mitochondria and Caspases Tune Nmnat-Mediated Stabilization to Promote Axon Regeneration

Li Chen, Derek M. Nye, Michelle C. Stone, Alexis T. Weiner, Kyle W. Gheres, Xin Xiong, Catherine A. Collins, Melissa M. Rolls, 2016, PLoS Genetics

Pathogenic role of delta 2 tubulin in bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy

Maria Elena Pero, Cristina Meregalli, Xiaoyi Qu, Grace Ji Eun Shin, Atul Kumar, Matthew Shorey, Melissa M. Rolls, Kurenai Tanji, Thomas H. Brannagan, Paola Alberti, Giulia Fumagalli, Laura Monza, Wesley B. Grueber, Guido Cavaletti, Francesca Bartolini, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Bilaterian Giant Ankyrins Have a Common Evolutionary Origin and Play a Conserved Role in Patterning the Axon Initial Segment

Timothy Jegla, Michelle M. Nguyen, Chengye Feng, Daniel J. Goetschius, Esteban Luna, Damian B. van Rossum, Bishoy Kamel, Aditya Pisupati, Elliott S. Milner, Melissa M. Rolls, 2016, PLoS Genetics

Nicotinamide is an endogenous agonist for a C. elegans TRPV OSM-9 and OCR-4 channel

Awani Upadhyay, Aditya Pisupati, Timothy Jegla, Matt Crook, Keith J. Mickolajczyk, Matthew Shorey, Laura E. Rohan, Katherine A. Billings, Melissa M. Rolls, William O. Hancock, Wendy Hanna-Rose, 2016, Nature Communications

News Articles Featuring Melissa Rolls

Apr 20, 2023

Grad Students in Huck Labs Win Awards for Innovative Research

Two graduate students—one in the Huck's Neuroscience program and the other in the Eberly College of Science's BMMB program—have been named recipients of an award available to those working in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology labs. Both PIs are also part of the Huck.

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Apr 22, 2021

MCIBS head Melissa Rolls honored with 2021 Graduate Program Chair Leadership Award

Melissa Rolls, Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, in the Eberly College of Science, is the 2021 recipient of Penn State's Graduate School Alumni Society Graduate Program Chair Leadership Award.

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Feb 15, 2021

MCIBS Chair Melissa Rolls Wins Leadership Award

Melissa Rolls, who is also the Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Director of the Center for Cellular Dynamics, has been recognized for outstanding leadership of the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences graduate program.

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Sep 25, 2019

Melissa Rolls appointed Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry

Melissa Rolls, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has been named the Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry. The professorship was created in 1995 by an anonymous donor in honor of Paul Berg, a 1948 Penn State graduate who was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 1974 and earned the Nobel Prize in 1980 for developing a method to map the structure and function of DNA.

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