Associate Professor
Research Areas: Autophagy-lysosome pathway, neurodegenerative disease

Biography

Dr. Shacka received B.S. degrees in Biochemistry and Biology from Virginia Tech in 1991, where he performed undergraduate research related to Parkinson's disease in the laboratory of Dr. Neal Castagnoli. In 1997 John received his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Virginia Commonwealth University, studying the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure in rats on their postnatal development in the laboratory of Dr. Susan E. Robinson. From 1998-2000 John was an NIH NIGMS Pharmacology Research Associate Traineeship (PRAT) fellow, studying the cytokine TGF-beta in the labs of Drs. Kathy Flanders and Anita Roberts.

In 2000 John moved to UAB and performed two postdoctoral fellowships, first with Joe Beckman/Alvaro Estevez (Anesthesiology/Physiology & Biophysics) studying peroxynitrite-mediated apoptosis; then with Kevin Roth (Pathology) studying autophagic neuronal cell death. In 2005 John became an Instructor in Pathology and in 2009 became a tenure track Assistant Professor in Pathology. In 2016 John transferred to the Dept. Pharmacology and Toxicology. In 2025, he moved to the Department of Neurobiology.

John currently studies the role of the autophagy-lysosome pathway in neurodegenerative disease, and is funded for investigations in Parkinson's disease and HIV-associated cognitive decline (HAND). His lab has pioneered studies indicating the emerging connection between the lysosomal enzyme alpha-Galactosidase A and Parkinson's disease.

Education

Ph.D.
Virginia Commonwealth University

Postdoctoral Fellowships
Postdoctoral Fellow, NCI/NIH
Postdoctoral Fellow, UAB

Contact

Office Location
Volker Hall 257

Phone
205-996-7252

Email
johnshacka@uabmc.edu