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Dr. Dinko Kranjac

Dr. Dinko Kranjac

Assistant Professor, Psychology

Academic Advisors / Cástulo de la Rocha College of Health and Community Well-Being / Psychology, BS
Office: (909) 448-4175
La Verne / Hoover Hall 216

Dinko Kranjac is an Assistant Professor of Psychology. He earned his PhD in Experimental Psychology with a specialization in behavioral neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology from Texas Christian University (TCU). He was then a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University Medical Center. Kranjac also served as a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and at SRI International, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Symptom Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Kranjac leads the Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) Research Lab that investigates the behavioral and neurobiological consequences of immune activation. His research group is primarily focusing on ways in which inflammation may alter varied cognitive processes such as decision-making, learning, and memory. The PNI Research Lab also investigates mechanisms through which long-term stress increases chronic inflammation. Together with Ashley Wendell Kranjac, the Director of the Earl Babbie Research Center at Chapman University, he co-directs the Health in Populations and Places (HiPP) Research Collaborative that examines the social and contextual determinants of physical and psychological health. The HiPP team members are using novel quantitative methods and rich data sources to identify the causes of health disparities. Kranjac is designated as core undergraduate faculty and teaches courses in the areas of behavioral neuroscience and learning theory.

Dr. Kranjac’s scholarly work can be found at Google Scholar.

Publications

* Undergraduate research assistant

  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D, Kain ZN, Ehwerhemuepha L, Jenkins BN. Neighborhood disadvantage and pediatric inpatient opioid prescription patterns. J Pediatr Nurs. 2023. doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2023.06.021
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D. Explaining adult obesity, severe obesity, and BMI: five decades of change. Heliyon. 2023;9(5):e16210. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16210
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D, Kain ZN, Ehwerhemuepha L, Jenkins BN. Obesity heterogeneity by neighborhood context in a largely Latinx sample. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2023. doi:10.1007/s40615-023-01578-6
  • Calvo J,* Khutsishvili N.* Mini-review: translational value of rodent models in behavioral neuropsychiatry. Impulse. 2022;19(1):1–16.
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D, Lounsbury O.* Deconstructing sex differences in C-reactive protein trends over time. Am J Hum Biol. 2022;34(5):e23705. doi:10.1002/ajhb.23705
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D. County-level factors that influenced the trajectory of COVID-19 incidence in the New York City area. Health Secur. 2021;19(S1):S27–S33. doi:10.1089/hs.2020.0236
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D. Decomposing differences in Coronavirus disease 2019-related case-fatality rates across seventeen nations. Pathog Glob Health. 2021;115(2):100–107. doi:10.1080/20477724.2020.1868824
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D. Child obesity moderates the association between poverty and academic achievement. Psychol Sch. 2021;58(7):1266–1283. doi:10.1002/pits.22497
  • Kranjac AW, Kranjac D, Fortier MA, Patton P, Giafaglione B, Kain Z. Surgical patients’ hospital experience scores: neighborhood context conceptual framework. Ann Surg. 2021;1:e037. doi:10.1097/AS9.0000000000000037
  • Eimerbrink MJ, Kranjac D, St. Laurent C, White JD, Weintraub MK, Pendry RJ, Maddigan R, Hodges SL, Sadler LN, Chumley MJ, Boehm GW. Pre-treatment of C57BL6/J mice with the TLR4 agonist monophosphoryl lipid A prevents LPS-induced sickness behaviors and elevations in dorsal hippocampus interleukin-1β, independent of interleukin-4 expression. Behav Brain Res. 2016;302:171–174. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2016.01.012
  • Weintraub MK, Kranjac D, Eimerbrink MJ, Pearson SJ, Vinson BT, Patel J, Summers W, Parnell T, Boehm GW, Chumley MJ. Peripheral administration of poly (I:C) leads to increased hippocampal amyloid-beta and cognitive deficits in a non-transgenic mouse model. Behav Brain Res. 2014;266:183–187. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.03.009
  • Weintraub MK, Bisson CM, Nouri JN, Vinson BT, Kranjac D, Eimerbrink MJ, Boehm GW, Chumley MJ. Imatinib methanesulfonate reduces hippocampal amyloid-beta and restores cognitive function following repeated endotoxin exposure. Brain Behav Immun. 2013;33:24–28. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2013.05.002
  • Kranjac D, Koster KM, Kahn MS, Eimerbrink MJ, Womble BM, Cooper BG, Chumley MJ, Boehm GW. Peripheral administration of D-cycloserine rescues memory consolidation following bacterial endotoxin exposure. Behav Brain Res. 2013;243:38–43. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2012.12.053
  • Kahn MS, Kranjac D, Alonzo CA, Haase JH, Cedillos RO, McLinden KA, Boehm GW, Chumley MJ. Prolonged elevation in hippocampal Aβ and cognitive deficits following repeated endotoxin exposure in the mouse. Behav Brain Res. 2012;229(1):176–184. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2012.01.010
  • Kranjac D, McLinden KA, Koster KM, Kaldenbach DL, Chumley MJ, Boehm GW. Peripheral administration of poly I:C disrupts contextual fear memory consolidation and BDNF expression in mice. Behav Brain Res. 2012;228(2):452–457. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2011.12.031
  • Kranjac D, McLinden KA, Deodati LE, Papini MR, Chumley MJ, Boehm GW. Peripheral bacterial endotoxin administration triggers both memory consolidation and reconsolidation deficits in mice. Brain Behav Immun. 2012;26(1):109–121. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2011.08.005
  • McLinden KA, Kranjac D (co-first author), Deodati LE, Kahn M, Chumley MJ, Boehm GW. Age exacerbates sickness behavior following exposure to a viral mimetic. Physiol Behav. 2012;105(5):1219–1225. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.04.024
  • Tarr AJ, McLinden KA, Kranjac D, Kohman RA, Amaral W, Boehm GW. The effects of age on lipopolysaccharide-induced cognitive deficits and interleukin-1β expression. Behav Brain Res. 2011;217:481–485. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2010.10.036

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