Dr. DiBerto successfully defended his thesis, “Discovery Campaigns for Pharmacologically Unique Agonists at the Mu-Opioid and 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2A Receptors on Jan. 19.”
Jeff completed his PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Bryan Roth.
Jeff has co-founded a company in the RTP-area that will be launching in February.
Awards & Highlights
Pharmacology 2018 Scholar Award
Jeff is first author on a Cell article published January 12, 2023 and highlighted in the UNC Health & School of Medicine News: Scientists Take Another Step Toward Creating Better Pain Medications
Publications
Jeff has 31 publications, 14 of which were completed while a Pharmacology graduate student and which are listed below. To see the complete list of his publications, view this pdf.
Wang Y, Zhuang Y, DiBerto JF, Zhou XE, Schmitz GP, Yuan Q, Jain MK, Liu W, Melcher K, Jiang Y, Roth BL, Xu HE. Structures of the entire human opioid receptor family. Cell. 2023 Jan 19;186(2):413-427.e17. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.026. Epub 2023 Jan 12. PMID: 36638794.
Faouzi A, Wang H, Zaidi SA, DiBerto JF, Che T, Qu Q, Robertson MJ, Madasu MK, El Daibani A, Varga BR, Zhang T, Ruiz C, Liu S, Xu J, Appourchaux K, Slocum ST, Eans SO, Cameron MD, Al-Hasani R, Pan YX, Roth BL, McLaughlin JP, Skiniotis G, Katritch V, Kobilka BK, Majumdar S. Structure-based design of bitopic ligands for the µ-opioid receptor. Nature. 2023 Jan;613(7945) :767-774. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05588-y. Epub 2022 Nov 30. PMID: 36450356.
Qu Q, Huang W, Aydin D, Paggi JM, Seven AB, Wang H, Chakraborty S, Che T, DiBerto JF, Robertson MJ, Inoue A, Suomivuori CM, Roth BL, Majumdar S, Dror RO, Kobilka BK, Skiniotis G. Insights into distinct signaling profiles of the µOR activated by diverse agonists. Nat Chem Biol. 2022 Nov 21. doi: 10.1038/s41589-022-01208-y. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36411392.
Kaplan AL, Confair DN, Kim K, Barros-Álvarez X, Rodriguiz RM, Yang Y, Kweon OS, Che T, McCorvy JD, Kamber DN, Phelan JP, Martins LC, Pogorelov VM, DiBerto JF, Slocum ST, Huang XP, Kumar JM, Robertson MJ, Panova O, Seven AB, Wetsel AQ, Wetsel WC, Irwin JJ, Skiniotis G, Shoichet BK, Roth BL, Ellman JA. Bespoke library docking for 5-HT2A receptor agonists with antidepressant activity. Nature. 2022 Oct;610(7932):582-591. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05258-z. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36171289.
Slocum ST, DiBerto JF, Roth BL. Molecular insights into psychedelic drug action. J Neurochem. 2022 Jul;162(1):24-38. doi: 10.1111/jnc.15540. Epub 2021 Dec 1. PMID: 34797943.
DiBerto JF, Smart K, Olsen RHJ, Roth BL. Agonist and antagonist TRUPATH assays for G protein-coupled receptors. STAR Protoc. 2022 Apr 1;3(2):101259. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101259. PMID: 35403009; PMCID: PMC8983427.
Cao C, Kang HJ, Singh I, Chen H, Zhang C, Ye W, Hayes BW, Liu J, Gumpper RH, Bender BJ, Slocum ST, Krumm BE, Lansu K, McCorvy JD, Kroeze WK, English JG, DiBerto JF, Olsen RHJ, Huang XP, Zhang S, Liu Y, Kim K, Karpiak J, Jan LY, Abraham SN, Jin J, Shoichet BK, Fay JF, Roth BL. Structure, function and pharmacology of human itch GPCRs. Nature. 2021 Dec;600(7887):170-175. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04126-6. Epub 2021 Nov 17. PMID: 34789874; PMCID: PMC9150435.
Chakraborty S, DiBerto JF, Faouzi A, Bernhard SM, Gutridge AM, Ramsey S, Zhou Y, Provasi D, Nuthikattu N, Jilakara R, Nelson MNF, Asher WB, Eans SO, Wilson LL, Chintala SM, Filizola M, van Rijn RM, Margolis EB, Roth BL, McLaughlin JP, Che T, Sames D, Javitch JA, Majumdar S. A Novel Mitragynine Analog with Low-Efficacy Mu Opioid Receptor Agonism Displays Antinociception with Attenuated Adverse Effects. J Med Chem. 2021 Sep 23;64(18):13873-13892. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01273. Epub 2021 Sep 10. PMID: 34505767; PMCID: PMC8530377.
DiBerto JF, Roth BL. The cranial windows of perception. Neuron. 2021 Aug 18;109(16):2499-2501. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.017. PMID: 34411534.
Kim K, Che T, Panova O, DiBerto JF, Lyu J, Krumm BE, Wacker D, Robertson MJ, Seven AB, Nichols DE, Shoichet BK, Skiniotis G, Roth BL. Structure of a Hallucinogen-Activated Gq-Coupled 5-HT2A Serotonin Receptor. Cell. 2020 Sep 17;182(6):1574-1588.e19. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.024. PMID: 32946782; PMCID: PMC7593816.
Nagai Y, Miyakawa N, Takuwa H, Hori Y, Oyama K, Ji B, Takahashi M, Huang XP, Slocum ST, DiBerto JF, Xiong Y, Urushihata T, Hirabayashi T, Fujimoto A, Mimura K, English JG, Liu J, Inoue KI, Kumata K, Seki C, Ono M, Shimojo M, Zhang MR, Tomita Y, Nakahara J, Suhara T, Takada M, Higuchi M, Jin J, Roth BL, Minamimoto T. Deschloroclozapine, a potent and selective chemogenetic actuator enables rapid neuronal and behavioral modulations in mice and monkeys. Nat Neurosci. 2020 Sep;23(9):1157-1167. doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-0661-3. Epub 2020 Jul 6. PMID: 32632286.
Olsen RHJ, DiBerto JF, English JG, Glaudin AM, Krumm BE, Slocum ST, Che T, Gavin AC, McCorvy JD, Roth BL, Strachan RT. TRUPATH, an open-source biosensor platform for interrogating the GPCR transducerome. Nat Chem Biol. 2020 Aug;16(8):841-849. doi: 10.1038/s41589-020-0535-8. Epub 2020 May 4. PMID: 32367019; PMCID: PMC7648517.
Che T, English J, Krumm BE, Kim K, Pardon E, Olsen RHJ, Wang S, Zhang S, Diberto JF, Sciaky N, Carroll FI, Steyaert J, Wacker D, Roth BL. Nanobody-enabled monitoring of kappa opioid receptor states. Nat Commun. 2020 Mar 2;11(1):1145. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14889-7. PMID: 32123179; PMCID: PMC7052193.
Torruella-Suárez ML, Vandenberg JR, Cogan ES, Tipton GJ, Teklezghi A, Dange K, Patel GK, McHenry JA, Hardaway JA, Kantak PA, Crowley NA, DiBerto JF, Faccidomo SP, Hodge CW, Stuber GD, McElligott ZA. Manipulations of Central Amygdala Neurotensin Neurons Alter the Consumption of Ethanol and Sweet Fluids in Mice. J Neurosci. 2020 Jan 15;40(3):632-647. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1466-19.2019. Epub 2019 Nov 19. PMID: 31744862; PMCID: PMC6961987.
We wish Jeff all the best going forward! Congratulations again!