Dr. Jan Spitsbergen
Research Assistant Professor, Fish Disease Research Center
Marine and Freshwater
Biomedical Sciences Center.
e-mail:spitsbej@onid.orst.edu
Dr. Spitsbergen is a fisheries scientist and veterinary pathologist (Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Pathologists) who has conducted laboratory research and field epidemiologic studies in fish pathology for over 20 years. Her research has included studies of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) toxicology and pathologic lesions in a variety of fish species, studies of interactions of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons with disease resistance and immune responses of salmonids, early life stage toxicity of TCDD and PCBs in salmonids, nutritional pathology, and field studies investigating the causes of tumor epizootics in brown bullhead, white suckers and lake trout. Her current research focuses primarily on investigation of genetic influences on susceptibility of zebrafish to spontaneous and carcinogen-induced tumors. Dr. Spitsbergen's current research focuses on developing lines of zebrafish highly sensitive to carcinogen-induced neoplasia. In collaboration with Dr. John Postlethwait at the University of Oregon, she is deriving lines of zebrafish with inactivating mutations in homologs of human tumor suppressor genes. Dr. Spitsbergen is completing studies to evaluate the spontaneous rates of neoplasia in wild-type and mutant lines of zebrafish and investigate the relative roles of diet, husbandry systems, infectious agents, and genetic influences on rates of spontaneous neoplasia in various lines of zebrafish. She is collaborating with Dr. Donald Buhler of Oregon State University to clarify the roles of various cytochrome P450 enzymes in the carcinogenesis processes in zebrafish. To better understand mechanisms of carcinogenesis using the zebrafish model, Dr. Spitsbergen is also working together with Dr. Zhiyuan Gong of the National University of Singapore to compare gene expression in normal and neoplastic liver using microarray technology.