.
CORAL Osmolyte Research in Hawai'i
LEFT picture: Joanne Ishikawa (far left) and Marina Heppenstall (right), 2007

RIGHT picture: Kristianne Chavez continues the work in 2009

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

Research with Dr. Yancey is in 2 broad areas (scroll down, or click below):

1. Marine Animal Osmolytes;
2. Kidney Osmolytes

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

 in_alvin 
Deep-sea Research, L-to-R: Ray Andrell on the Atlantis (2006); Carrie Laxson with giant cuskeel on R/V Point Sur (2009); Joanne Ishikawa in the Alvin sub (2008)


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 and marine stations 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 not disturbing cell functions.
Many osmolytes have other functions such as stabilizing proteins and membranes, both in nature and in biotechnology and medicine. For example, Dr. Yancey and his students and colleagues have found that some osmolytes protect our kidneys from toxic wastes and others help animals in the deep sea resist pressure inhibition of proteins. He has also assisted medical researchers in using osmolytes to treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
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 with the Alvin submersible, 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

 

Examples of Marine Projects:

  • Adaptations to the low-energy environment of the mesopelagic (200-1000 meters deep) (with Joe Siebenaller, LSU)
  • Adaptations to the high pressure of the deep benthos (1800-6400 m deep) (with J. Siebenaller, LSU, George Somero, Hopkins Marine Stn., and Jeff Drazen, Univ. Hawai'i)
  • Unusual osmolytes in deep-sea abyssal, hydrothermal-vent, and methane-seep animals (with Ray Lee, WSU; Lisa Levin, Scripps)
  • Salinity and temperature adaptation in tilapia, the world's major aquaculture fish (Gordon Grau's lab, Univ. Hawai'i)
  • Coral osmolytes and coral larvae cryopreservation (Mary Hagedorn's lab, Univ. Hawai'i)
hopkins.coconut
Hopkins Marine Station (top)
Coconut I. (Hawai'i Inst. Mar. Bio.)
matt1
Matt Gillett in 1996 helps collect deep-sea fish aboard the Wecoma		 .J&W
Wendy Blake and James Conley, at the Hopkins Marine Station (8/99 and 8/00), where we have conducted high-pressure work

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

hawaii04
Liza Mathias and Jeanette Fiess
Tilapia research in Hawai'i 2004 		steve-ray
Ray Andrell and Steven Ly seal a high-pressure chamber for fish in J. Drazen's lab at U. Hawai'i (5/06)		 hawaii09
Carrie Laxson and Kristianne Chavez
Coral preservation research in Hawai'i 2009

...
The R/Vs Wecoma (Oregon State Univ. 1980s-1990s researchon deep-sea animals); Thomas G. Thompson (Univ. Washington; 2001 research); the robotic submersible ROV Oceanic Explorer for our 2001 work;
the Point Lobos with ROV Ventana at MBARI, for our 2003 deep-sea work; and the Atlantis (WHOI) with the DSRV ALVIN for our 2006-08 research on cold seeps and hydrothermal vents (with Ray Lee, WSU; and Lisa Levin, Scripps); and the R/V Point Sur for our work on deep-sea fish metabolism and pressure adaptations (with Jeff Drazen, U. Hawai'i)

.....carrie
Our deep-sea expedition teams from 1996, 1997 on the Wecoma; 2001 on the Thompson; 2003 at MBARI in California; 2006 -07 with the Alvin on the Atlantis; 2009 on the Point Sur

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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.

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.
    		•
    -
    Normal kidney cells growing in culture; cells exposed to 1mM ibuprofen (pictures from Karen Pantilat's 1996 research project on analgesics)

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    STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: at regional, national or international meetings:

    <--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

     

    mattsicb.mattpr

    <--LEFT: Matt Gillett presents his poster at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 1996 in 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 (published as full paper in 1997; see REFS below)

    RIGHT-->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. (Published as full paper in 1999; see REFS below)

     

    stpete1.jennirussia

     
    noah1aust03

    <--LEFT: 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     (Published as full paper in 2006; see REFS below)

    RIGHT-->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
    h&t    .gg

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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