UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Faculty and Staff

Melka, Melkaye

Melkaye Melka

Melkaye Melka

Associate Professor

Animal and Food Science
Office: 317 Ag Science Building
Phone: 715-425-4070

Email: melkaye.melka@uwrf.edu

Education:

PhD, Genetics, University of Guelph, Canada

Research Interests:

My research interests include, but are not limited to:

  • Identifying genetic variations (e.g. SNPs, CNVs) associated with complex traits through GWAS and Next-generation sequencing.
  • Unraveling the functional roles of genes and gene networks underlying complex traits and diseases.

Publications:

Published Peer-Reviewed Articles:
1. Castellani CA, Melka, MG, Rajakumar R, O’Reilly RL, Singh SM. Genomes of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia delineate de novo features of twin differences and disease threshold. Clinical and Translational Medicine. 2017 DOI 10.1186/s40169-017-0164-3.

2. Emma Reble, Melka MG, Castellani CA, Singh SM. 2016. VarScan analysis of de novo variants in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. Psych. Genetics 2017 Apr;27(2):62-70.

3. Melka MG, Castellani C.A., Laufer B.I. Dehiel E, Singh S.M. DNA Methylation in Psychosis: insights into aetiology and treatment. Epigenomics: Future Medicine, 2015; 7(1):67-74.

4. Nead KT, Li A., Neupane B.P., …Melka MG, Franks P., Sidney S., Anand S and Meyre D. Contribution of common non-synonymous variants in PCSK1 to body-mass index variation and risk of obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis with evidence from up to 331,175 individuals. Human Molecular Genetics, 2015; 24(12): 3582-94.  

5. Castellani C.A., Melka, MG, N. Rajakumar, R. O’Reilly, Shiva M. Singh. DNA Methylation Across Monozygotic Twin Pairs Discordant for Schizophrenia Identifies Shared Genes and Networks. BMC Medical Genomics, 2015,8:17.

6. Melka MG, Castellani C.A., O’Reilly R., Singh S.M. Insights into the origin of DNA methylation in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. J. Molecular Psychiatry, 2015; 3(1):7.

7. Castellani C.A., Melka MG, O’Reilly R.L., Singh SM. Integration of DNA sequence and DNA methylation changes in monozygotic twins pairs discordant for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 2015 Dec;169(1-3):433-440.

8. Melka MG, Laufer B. I., Castellani C. A., McDonald P., Rajakumar N., O’Reilly R. and Singh S. M. The effects of a therapeutic equivalent dose of olanzapine on genome-wide DNA methylation in hippocampus and cerebellum, in a rat model in vivo. Clinical Epigenetics, 2014; 6(1):1.

9. Melka MG., Castellani C.A., Rajakumar R., O’Reilly R.L., Singh S.M. Olanzapine-induced methylation alters cadherin gene families and associated pathways implicated in psychosis. BMC Neuroscience, 2014; 15(1):112.

10. Castellani, C.A., Melka, MG, Wishart, AE., Locke, B., Awamleh, Z., Singh, SM. Assessment of the relevance of CNV calling methods using familial relatedness including monozygotic twins. Bioinformatics, 2014; 15:114-122.

11. Christina Castellani, Zain Awamleh, Melka, MG, Richard O’Reilly, Shiva M. Singh. Use of a de novo mutation discovery model for the identification of patient specific copy number variations in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 2014; 20: 1-13.

12. Melka MG, Castellani C.A., Rajakumar R., O’Reilly R.L., Singh S.M. Olanzapine-induced DNA methylation in the hippocampus and cerebellum in genes mapped to human 22q11 and implicated in schizophrenia. Psychiatric Genetics, 2014; 25(2):88-94.

13. Melka MG, Jesse Gillis, Manon Bernard, Michal Abrahamowicz, M. Mallar Chakravarty, Gabriel T. Leonard, Michel Perron, Louis Richer, Suzanne Veillette, Gunter Schumann, the IMAGEN consortium (www.imagen-europe.com), Paul Pavlidis, Daniel Gaudet, Tomáš Paus and Zdenka Pausova. FTO, obesity and the adolescent brain. Human Molecular Genetics, 2013; 22(5):1050-8.

14. Melka MG, Michal Abrahamowicz, Gabriel T. Leonard, Michel Perron, Louis Richer, Suzanne Veillette, Daniel Gaudet, Tomas Paus, Zdenka Pausova. Clustering of the metabolic syndrome components in adolescence: role of visceral fat. PLoS One, 2013, 8(12):e82368.

15. Amirreza Haghighi, Melka MG, Manon Bernard, Michal Abrahamowicz, Gabriel T. Leonard, Michel Perron, Louis Richer, Suzanne Veillette, Andre Dias, Ahmed El-Sohemy, Karen Eny, Andrew Paterson, Daniel Gaudet, Tomas Paus, and Zdenka Pausova. Opioid receptor mu 1 gene, fat intake and obesity: a genome-wide association study. Molecular Psychiatry, 2013; 19(1): 63-8.

16. Melka MG, Sargolzaei M., Miglior F. and Schenkel F. 2011. Monitoring genetic variation in Guernsey populations of Canada, the U.S.A and South Africa using pedigree information and gene-dropping simulations. International J. Animal Bioscience 2013; 7(2): 192-201.

17. Melka MG, Stachowicz K., Miglior F. and Schenkel F. S. Analyses of genetic diversity in five Canadian dairy breeds using pedigree data. J. Anim. Breed. Genet., 2013. doi: 10.1111/jbg.12050.

18. Melka MG, N. Rajakumar, R. O’Reilly, Shiva M. Singh. 2013. Olanzapine induced DNA methylation changes support the dopamine hypothesis of psychosis. Journal of Molecular Psychiatry, 2013; 1(19).

19. Nymberg C, Glia T, IMAGEN Consortium […Melka MG…] Neural mechanisms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms are stratified by MAOA genotype. Biological Psychiatry 2013; 74(8): 607-614.

20. Melka MG, Bernard M., Mahboubi A., Abrahamowicz M., Paterson A. D., Syme C., Lourdusamy A., Schumann G., Leonard G. T., Perron M., Richer L., Veillette S., Gaudet D., Paus T. and Pausova Z. Genome-wide scan for loci of adolescent obesity and their relationship with blood pressure. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2012; 97(1): E145-E150.

21. Melka MG and Schenkel F. 2011. Analyses of population genetic variation using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism markers. BMC Res Notes, 2012; 22;5:161.

22. Paus T., Bernard M., Chakravarty M., Davey S., Gillis J., Lourdusamy A., Melka MG, Leonard G., Pavlidis P., Perron M., Pike B., Richer L., Schumann G., Timpson N., Toro R., Veillette S. and Pausova Z. KCTD8 gene and brain growth in adverse intrauterine environment: a genome-wide association study. Cerebral CORTEX. 2011; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr350.

23. Melka MG and Schenkel F. Analysis of genetic diversity in four Canadian Swine populations. Can. J. Anim. Sci., 2010; 90: 331-340.

24. Melka MG, Rings F, Hoelker M, Tesfaye D, Schellander K. Expression of apoptosis regulatory genes and incidence of apoptosis in different morphological quality groups of in-vitro produced bovine pre-implantation embryos. Reprod Dom Anim 2009; doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0531.2009.01463.x.

Published Book Chapter:
25. Melka MG., et al. Changes in DNA Sequence and Methylation Contribute to the Predisposition of Schizophrenia: Towards an epigenetic therapy. In: Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders and their Treatments, 2016.  

Published Abstracts Presented At Scientific Meetings and Workshops:
26. Castellani C.A., Melka MG, Singh SM. Assessing the Threshold Model for Schizophrenia Using In-depth Genome Sequence and Methylation Differences in Monozygotic Twins Discordant for the Disease. World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics. Toronto. Oct. 16-20. 2015.

27. Melka MG, Castellani CA, Laufer BI, Rajakumar R, O’Reilly RL, Singh SM. Efficacy and side effect of therapeutic Olanzapine involves altered methylation in genes and pathways implicated in psychosis. Pharmacogenetics in Psychiatry, Toronto, CA. Oct. 15, 2015.  

28. Castellani C.A., Melka MG, O’Reilly R., Singh S.M. Differences in Genetic Features May Explain the Discordance of Monozygotic Twins for Schizophrenia. American Society of Human Genetics. Oct. 18-22, 2014. San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

29. Melka MG, Rajakumar R, O’Reilly R., Singh S.M. Effects of therapeutic equivalent dose of olanzapine on DNA methylation in rat brain regions. Annual Conference of the Psychiatric Department, Western University, London, Canada. Sept. 16, 2013.

30. Melka MG, Bernard M., Mahboubi A., Abrahamowicz M., Paterson A. D., Syme C., Lourdusamy A., Schumann G., Leonard G. T., Perron M., Richer L., Veillette S., Gaudet D., Paus T. and Pausova Z. 2011. Genome-wide scan for loci of adolescent obesity and their relationship with blood pressure. National Obesity Summit, Montreal, Canada, Apr. 28-May 01, 2011.

31. Melka MG, Michal Abrahamowicz, Gabriel T. Leonard, Michel Perron, Louis Richer, Suzanne Veillette, Daniel Gaudet, Tomas Paus, Zdenka Pausova. FTO, obesity and the brain. The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Scientific Retreat. Nov. 1st, 2011. Toronto, ON, Canada.

32. Amirreza Haghighi, Melka MG, Manon Bernard, Michal Abrahamowicz, Gabriel T. Leonard, Michel Perron, Louis Richer, Suzanne Veillette, Andre Dias, Ahmed El-Sohemy, Karen Eny, Andrew Paterson, Daniel Gaudet, Tomas Paus, and Zdenka Pausova. 2012. Opioid receptor mu 1 gene, fat intake and obesity: a genome-wide association study. The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Scientific Retreat. Nov. 1st, 2011. Toronto, ON, Canada.

33. Melka MG, Bernard M., Mahboubi A., Abrahamowicz M., Paterson A. D., Syme C Lourdusamy A., Schumann G., Leonard G. T., Perron M., Richer L., Veillette S., Gaudet D., Paus T. and Pausova Z. 2011. Genome-wide scan for loci of adolescent obesity and their relationship with blood pressure. High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Session, Washington DC, U.S.A. Oct 13-16, 2010.

34. Melka MG, Rings F, Hoelker M, Tesfaye D, Schellander K. 2009. The quality of pre-implantation bovine embryos and apoptosis gene expressions. Annual Tropentag, International conference, Sept. 3-7, 2006, Bonn, Germany.

Professional Activities:

  • American Society of Human Genetics (Member)
  • International Society of Animal Genetics (Member)