PAUL H. YANCEY
Professor of Biology*
Carl E. Peterson Endowed Chair of Sciences
Biology Dept., Whitman College, Walla Walla WA 99362 USA
Curriculum Vitae
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BIOGRAPHY --B.S. (with honors) in Biology from the California Institute of Technology; undergraduate research on DNA-RNA hybridization with Drs. Eric Davidson, Barbara Hough-Evans, Roy Britten. --Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (U.C. San Diego), specializing in marine animal physiology and biochemistry, especially thermal, pH and osmotic adaptations, with Dr. George Somero. --Postdoctoral work on thermal, exercise and osmotic adaptations in salmon, sharks and goldfish at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, England, with Dr. Ian Johnston. --Professor at Whitman College since 1981. --Visiting Research Scientist/Fellow during summers and sabbaticals at the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center; the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda) [kidney osmotic research]; the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory (Maine); Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station (Pacfic Grove, CA); Louisiana State University; the University of Otago (New Zealand), Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, and MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Inst.).
CURRENT RESEARCH focuses on coral osmotic balance and cryopreservation;
deep-sea adaptations to hydrostatic pressure; adaptations to sulfide at cold seeps and hydrothermal vents; mammalian kidney
osmoregulation Prof. Yancey's hobbies include photography, woodworking, stained glass, hiking, gardening. |
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RESEARCH AREA: ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES and ORGANIC OSMOLYTES Click for a full list of Prof. Yancey's publications
TEACHING AREAS:
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TEACHING: Prof. Yancey's courses and other teaching activities are listed below, and can be accessed by clicking the blue links: |
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Courses taught: |
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Educational sites on adaptations: |
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Physiology* |
Marine
Biology |
Bioethics
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Student
Research |
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*Dr. Yancey is a
co-author of a 2013
TEXTBOOK: ANIMAL
PHYSIOLOGY, 2nd ed. by
Sherwood, Klandorf, Yancey (Cengage)
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RESEARCH: Prof. Yancey's research is described below, and can be accessed by clicking the blue topics: |
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RESEARCH OVERVIEW Most of the research in Prof. Yancey's laboratory focuses on Organic Osmolytes. Osmolytes are compounds that cells may accumulate when they are under dehydrating osmotic stress. Such stresses include high salinity (as in seawater, or in the interior of the mammalian kidney), high evaporation (as in deserts), freezing, dietary imbalances, and diseases (e.g., osmotic stresses caused by diabetes mellitus). Organic osmolytes are certain compounds which can be built up in cells to elevate osmotic pressure and which, unlike salt ions, do not disrupt cellular macromolecules. In addition to regulating cellular water balance, many osmolytes have cytoprotective properties such as stabilizing cellular proteins against denaturing chemicals like urea, temperature, and pressure. More information can also be found by at Prof. Yancey's SENIOR RESEARCH page. CURRENT OSMOLYTE RESEARCH
is on: Prof. Yancey and others have found that some osmolytes, especially methylamine types such as TMAO (left), can actually stabilize proteins and counteract destabilizing effects of perturbants such as urea, salt, temperature and pressure. TMAO has a breakdown product, TMA (trimethylamine), that makes marine animals smell "fishy." Methylamines are high and appear to protect proteins in i) sharks and relatives, which also have the perturbing compound urea as an osmolyte; ii) mammalian (including human) kidneys, which must concentrate urea as a perturbing waste; iii) deep-sea animals which must cope with protein disturbances from high pressure. Our discovery of TMAO's role in the deep sea was featured in a New Scientist news story in 1999 . See Deep-sea Fish page for pictures and Deep-Sea Research page for research details. --Stabilizing properties of osmolytes may have practical application, e.g., Welch and colleagues have shown that TMAO and other osmolytes can prevent the damaging protein of "mad-cow" disease from forming, and can cause the malformed protein of cystic fibrosis to fold properly. (Dr. Yancey assisted in one of the latter studies; see Howard et al. reference below in Research Area 2.) --We are also studying the role of osmolyte-type solutes in animals at hydrothermal vents and gas seeps, which have high levels of hydrogen sulfide, a gas toxic to most animals. A major osmolyte in shallow-water marine invertebrates such as clams and crabs is taurine. Taurine is also essential for mammalian brain development, and is the primary ingredient in many so-called energy or sports drinks (hint: the name taurine is derived from Taurus [bull]). Researchers in France have found high levels of the taurine derivatives hypotaurine and thiotaurine in clams, mussels and tubeworms which have sulfide-oxidizing bacterial symbionts. Thiotaurine, a product of hypotaurine and sulfide, may be a mechanism to prevent sulfide toxicity. We have found hypotaurine and thiotaurine in vent snails, limpets and heat-loving paralvinellid worms without symbionts, and shown that thiotaurine levels vary with sulfide exposure in these animals kept in laboratory pressure chambers. See Seeps and Vents page for pictures and Deep-Sea Research Page for research details. --Other researchers have found that the common osmolyte of marine algae, DMSP(dimethylsulfonoproprionate), breaks down into the gas DMS (dimethylsulfide), which is largely responsible for the "smell of the sea" that evokes emotional responses to the ocean. DMS is also thought to trigger the seeding of clouds, in what may be a global temperature negative feedback process. This is one of the postulates of the so-called Gaia hypothesis, which suggests that global warming will cause more DMS production, which via cloud formation may cool the planet. We have recently been working on DMSP and other osmolytes in coral reef animals and their symbionts, with Dr. Mary Hagedorn, who is hoping to cryopreserve coral larvae for potential re-seeding of decimated reef habitats. |
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Click for a full list of Prof. Yancey's publications. Papers are listed below by theme/area:
Review articles on osmotic balance and cytoprotection using osmolytes (RED
= recommended reading
for overview on osmolytes): Primary
research articles are below |
Back to Research Index ; Back to top of page
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Publications
on OSMOLYTES: SHARKS, Bony
FISH, HAGFISH, FROGS,
and CORALS (*undergraduate
co-author):
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Publications on proteins and osmolytes in DEEP-SEA/HYDROTHERMAL VENT/GAS SEEP Animals: (*undergraduate co-authors):
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Other Publications in Marine / Comparative Physiology: TOXICOLOGY; TEMPERATURE adaptations, MUSCLE physiology:
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Research Area 2. MAMMALIAN KIDNEY and BRAIN OSMOLYTES |
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Publications (some with undergraduate co-authors*) in mammalian osmoregulation:
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 Normal kidney cells growing in tissue culture |
 Kidney cells in culture exposed to 1mM Ibuprofen |
 Restoring cystic-fibrosis channel function with osmolytes (Howard et al., 2003) |
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AREA 3. COMMENTARY ARTICLES :
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