PROF. PAUL H. YANCEY
SENIOR RESEARCH Bio 489-490-498
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, USA
3-4 Total credits Fall & Spring Semesters


Liza Mathias and Jeanette Fiess
Tilapia research in Hawai'i

Research with Dr. Yancey is in 3 broad areas (scroll down, or click below):

1. Deep-sea Osmolytes; 2. Kidney Osmolytes; 3. Other Osmolytes

Click for information on
Student Presentations at National and International Scientific Meetings
and Student Publications.


Ray Andrell on the Atlantis
Deep-sea research with the Alvin sub

Students fulfilling their Senior Research requirement under Professor Yancey's supervision work in the broad area of Physiology:

-->Non-Whitman Research: Some students work off-campus over the summer or while studying abroad, in physiology and medical laboratories around the world. They then work with Prof. Yancey on data analysis and thesis writing.

-->Whitman Research: Some students work with Professor Yancey in his laboratory in the summer and/or academic year. Projects are usually in his research area of environmental stresses and adaptations, mainly in osmoregulation. Most of the research in Prof. Yancey's laboratory focuses on organic osmolytes, small molecules that build up osmotic pressure inside cells to prevent osmotic water loss, while at the same time protecting cell proteins from denaturing forces. See Prof. Yancey's Home Page for details.

Research Area 1: Deep-Sea Osmolytes and Other Marine Adaptations

Many students have participated in deep-sea research on the Wecoma, Thompson, and Atlantis, and lab research at Oregon State University, Mt. Desert Island Biological Lab (Maine), Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station and Monterey Bay Aquarium Res. Inst. (Monterey/Moss Landing CA), and Univ. Hawai'i/Hawai'i Inst. Marine Biology

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The R/Vs Wecoma (Oregon State Univ.' 1980s-1990s research); Thomas G. Thompson (Univ. Washington; 2001 research), and Atlantis (WHOI; 2006 research); the robotic submersible ROV Oceanic Explorer for our 2001 work; the Point Lobos with ROV Ventana at MBARI, for our 2003 work; and the DSRV ALVIN for our 2006 work.

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Our deep-sea expedition teams from 1996, 1997 on the Wecoma; 2001 on the Thompson; 2003 at MBARI in California; and 2006 with the Alvin on the Atlantis

Examples of Marine Projects:

-->Adaptations to the low-energy environment of the mesopelagic (200-100 meters deep)
-->Adaptations to the high pressure of the deep benthos (1800-6400 m deep)
-->Unusual osmolytes in deep-sea abyssal, hydrothermal-vent, and methane-seep animals
-->salinity and temperature adaptation in tilapia, the world's major aquaculture fish

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Hopkins Marine Station; Coconut I. (Hawai'i Inst. Mar. Bio.)

 


Matt Gillett '97 helps collect deep-sea fish aboard the Wecoma (4/97)

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Vanessa Walker and Maria Aunon (left), and Wendy Blake
and James Conley (right), at the Hopkins Marine Station (8/99 and 8/00), where we have conducted recent high-pressure work


Amber Fyfe-Johnson
pressurizes an enzyme
from a deep-sea fish (8/98)

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Ray Andrell and Steven Ly seal a high-pressure chamber for fish
in J. Drazen's lab at U. Hawai'i, and aid in coral preservation work in M. Hagedorn's lab on Coconut I., Hawai'i (4/06)

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Research Area 2: KIDNEY OSMOLYTES

Some students have worked on the mechanisms that allow kidney cells to tolerate high levels of urea and salt. This involves organic osmolytes such as betaine, sorbitol, glycerophosphorylcholine, and inositol.

Area 3: Other Osmolyte Research

Some students have worked on osmolytes in systems other than deep-sea animals and kidneys.

RENAL PROJECTS INCLUDE:
-->Osmolytes as cellular protectants in mammalian development
-->Mammalian kidney cell osmoregulation, including the effects of i) dietary salt and protein, ii) creatine loading by atheletes, iii) drugs to treat diabetes, iv) analgesic drugs such as ibuprofen.
BELOW are pictures from Karen Pantilat's 1996 research project on the analgesics:
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Normal kidney cells growing in culture; cells exposed to 1mM ibuprofen

EXAMPLES of OTHER PROJECTS:
-->osmolytes in mammalian brain and heart
-->osmolytes in intertidal animals and algae
-->osmolytes and antifreeze solutes in desert sagebrush (below)

Brian Fain studies sagebrush
osmotic adaptations

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STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: at regional, national or international meetings:

Recent examples:

<--LEFT: Garth Brand and Athena Samerotte present their deep-sea fish research at the 13th Annual Murdock Undergraduate Science conference, Portland, 2004

NEAR RIGHT-->Maria Aunon and Vanessa Walker present their work to government officials (NSF, Congress) at the 4th Annual Posters-on-the-Hill Conference, Washington DC, Apr. 2000

FAR RIGHT-->Jeanette Fiess, Jennifer Hom and Hilary Hudson present their work at the 2nd International Hydrothermal Vent Symposium, Brest, FRANCE, Oct. 2001

Other examples are below:

 

BELOW: Matt Gillett presents his poster at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Albuquerque; and studies high-pressure effects on a deep-sea fish enzyme at the Hopkins Marine Station
Gillett, M.B., J.R. Suko, F.O. Santoso, P.H. Yancey (1996). Elevated levels of trimethylamine oxide in muscles of deep-sea teleosts. Amer. Zool. 36: 35A

.

BELOW: Jenni Rohr presents her poster on diabetes-related work at the 33rd Internat'l Congress of Physiol. Sciences, St. Petersburg, RUSSIA
Rohr, J.M. and P.H. Yancey (1997). Effects of aldose reductase inhibitors, ascorbic acid and aminoguanidine on sorbitol contents in primary renal cultures.
.
.

 

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Noah Rosenberg presents a poster on our deep-sea research in Mt. Buller, AUSTRALIA, at the 6th Internat'l. Congress on Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Feb. 2003.
Rosenberg, N.B,, R.W. Lee, P.H. Yancey (2003). Adaptation to environmental stresses with osmolytes: possible roles for betaine, hypotaurine and thiotaurine in gastropods from hydrothermal vents. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 134: S120

Heather Taylor and Tanya Hudson (below left) deliver a talk on ibuprofen and Chinese herb effects on kidney cells at the 23rd West Coast Undergraduate Biology Research Conference,University of San Francisco, May 1998.
Below right: Ruschelle Edlin, Brenda Hunt,
Prof. Heidi Dobson, Heather, Tanya, Prof. Yancey
.

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PUBLICATIONS with undergraduate co-authors*:

MARINE Research:

KIDNEY Research:

Go to Top of Page; GO TO Prof. Yancey's Home Page; GO TO Whitman Biology Home Page