 Dr.
Bert Boyer is Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at the
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks,
Alaska, USA; and Project Principal Investigator (Genetics of
Obesity) and Leader (Genetics Core) in the Center for Alaska
Native Health Research.
Education
1982 Texas Tech University, BA in Chemistry
1988 Louisiana State University Medical School,
Ph.D. in Physiology
1988-92 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Jackson Laboratory,
Bar Harbor, Maine
1992-98 Assistant Professor, University of Alaska
Fairbanks
1998- Associate Professor, University of Alaska
Fairbanks
Honors
1998-9 Visiting Associate Research Scientist, Department of
Pediatrics, Division of Molecular Genetics at Columbia University
1998-9 Visiting Research Scientist in the Division
of Endocrinology, Nutrition and Diabetes of the Department of
Medicine at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Obesity Research
Center
2002 University of Washington Science in Medicine
WWAMI lecturer
2004- Affiliate Faculty University of Washington
School of Medicine, Department of Physiology
2005- NIH Integrative Physiology of Obesity
and Diabetes Study Section Ad Hoc Reviewer
2005-6 Visiting Fellow, Cambridge University,
Wolfson College.
Major Grants
1993-1997 NIH FIRST Award ($523,625)
1994 NSF Academic Research Infrastructure Award
($240,150)
1995 NIH Minority High School Research Apprentice
Program ($143,370)
1995-1998 American Heart Graduate Fellowship
Program Grant ($151,200)
1996-2000 NSF CAREER Award ($286,164)
1998-2000 NIH Senior National Research Service
Award ($47, 412)
1998-2001 American Heart Association Research
Grant ($120,000)
2001-2003 NSF EPSCoR award (Genomics Research
Focus Area Leader, $1,500,000)
2001-2004 DOD EPSCoR Research Grant ($299,998)
2001-2006 NIH COBRE award (Co-PI, $11,000,000)
Research Organization
Memberships
American Association for the Advancement of Science
North American Association for the Study of
Obesity
American Society for Human Genetics
International Network for Circumpolar Health
Research
Graduate Students Advised
Qun Chen, M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1996
Austin Biery, M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology 1997
Olav Ormseth, M.S. in Biology 1997
Steve LePage, M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology 1999
Jamie Barger, Ph.D. in Biology 2002
Erik Harrington, M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology 2003
Renee Pasker, M.S. in Biology (expected completion
2007)
Postdoctoral
Fellows
2003-5 Dr. Gabriella Antunez de Mayolo
2004-6 Dr. Anna Goropashnaya
2004- Dr. Vadim Fedorov
Selected Publications
Barger, J. L. Barnes, B. M., and Boyer, B. B. (2006). Regulation
of UCP1 and UCP3 in arctic ground squirrels and correlation
with mitochondrial proton leak. Journal of Applied Physiology.
101(1):339-347.
Yan J, Burman A, Nichols C, Alila L, Showe LC, Showe MK, Boyer
BB, Barnes BM, Marr TG. (2006). The Detection of Differential
Gene Expression in Brown Adipose Tissue of Hibernating Arctic
Ground Squirrels Using Mouse Microarrays. Physiol Genomics.
25(2):346-353
Boyer, B. B., G.V. Mohatt, C. Lardon, R. Plaetke, B.R. Luick,
S.H. Hutchison, G. Antunez de Mayolo, E. Ruppert, A. Bersamin.
(2005). Building a community-based participatory research center
to investigate obesity and diabetes in Alaska Natives. International
Journal for Circumpolar Health Research 64(3):281-290.
Boyer, B.B. M. Heo, D.B. Allison, N.T. Lievenstein, I.S. Cho,
Z. Wang, S.B. Heymsfield. (2004) Comparison of body composition
methodologies: Determining what is most practical for the hospital,
research laboratory or remote field study. International Journal
of Body Composition Research 2:115-124.
Barger JL, Brand MD, Barnes BM, Boyer BB. (2003) Tissue-specific
depression of mitochondrial proton leak and substrate oxidation
in hibernating arctic ground squirrels. Am J Physiol Regul Integr
Comp Physiol. (2003) May;284(5):R1306-13.
Shechter I, Dai P, Roseman MA, Gupta SD, Boyer BB, Guan G. (2003)
Low temperature effect on the sterol-dependent processing of
SREBPs and transcription of cholesterol and fatty acid related
genes in HepG2 cells. J Lipid Res. 2003 Aug; 44(8):1581-90/
M Heo, RL Leibel, Kevin R. Fontaine, BB Boyer, WK Chung, M Koulu,
MK Karvonen, U Pesonen, A Rissanen, M Laakso, MIJ Uusitupa,
Y Chagnon, C Bouchard, PA Donohoue, TL Burns, AR Shuldiner,
K Silver, RE Andersen, O Pedersen, S Echwald, TIA Sørensen,
P Behn, MA Permutt, KB Jacobs, RC Elston, DJ Hoffman, DB Allison.
(2002) A meta-analytic investigation of linkage and association
of common leptin receptor (LEPR) polymorphisms with body mass
index and waist circumference. International Journal of Obesity
26:640-646.
M Heo, RL Leibel, BB Boyer, WK Chung, M Koulu, MK Karvonen,
U Pesonen, A Rissanen, M Laakso, MIJ Uusitupa, Y Chagnon, C
Bouchard, PA Donohoue, TL Burns, AR Shuldiner, K Silver, RE
Andersen, O Pedersen, S Echwald, TIA Sørensen, P Behn,
MA Permutt, KB Jacobs, RC Elston, DJ Hoffman, DB Allison. (2001)
Pooling analysis of genetic data: the association of leptin
receptor (LEPR) polymorphisms with variables related to human
adiposity. Genetics 159:1163-1178.
Knight, J. E., Narus, E. N., Martin, S. L., Jacobsson, A., Barnes,
B. M., Boyer, B. B. (2000) mRNA Stability and Polysome Loss
in Hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus parryii).
Mol. Cell. Biol. 20:6374-6379.
Yu, X. X., Barger, J. L., Boyer, B. B., Brand, M. D., Pan, G.,
Adams, S. H. (2000) Impact of endotoxin on UCP homolog mRNA
abundance, thermoregulation, and mitochondrial proton leak kinetics.
Am J Physiol 279:E433-46.
Boyer, B. B., and B. M. Barnes (1999). Molecular and Metabolic
Aspects of Hibernation. BioScience 49:713-724.
Boyer, B. B., B. M. Barnes, B. B. Lowell, D. Grujic (1998) Differential
regulation of uncoupling protein gene homologues in multiple
tissues of hibernating ground squirrels. Am. J. Physiology 275:R1232-1238.
Boyer, B. B., O. A. Ormseth, L. Buck, M. Nicolson, M. A. Pelleymounter
and B. M. Barnes (1997) Leptin prevents post-hibernation weight
gain, but does not reduce energy expenditure in arctic ground
squirrels. Comp. Biochem. Phys. 118C:405-412.
Biery, A. J., S. O. E. Ebbesson, A. R. Shuldiner, and B. B.
Boyer (1997) The ?3-adrenergic receptor Trp64Arg polymorphism
and obesity in Alaskan Eskimos. Int. J. Obesity 21:1176-1179.
Ackerman, S. L., L. P. Kozak, L. A. Rund, S. A. Przyborski,
B. B. Boyer, B. B. Knowles (1997) The mouse rostral cerebellar
malformation gene encodes a UNC-5-like protein. Nature 386:838-842.
Ormseth, O. A., M. Nicolson, M. A. Pelleymounter, B. B. Boyer
(1996) Leptin inhibits prehibernation hyperphagia and reduces
body weight in arctic ground squirrels. Am. J. Physiology:271:R1775-R1779.
Lowell, B. B., S-Susulic, V., Hamann, A., Lawitts, J. A., Himms-Hagen,
J., Boyer, B. B., Kozak, L. P., and Flier, J. S. (1996) Transgenic
ablation of brown adipose tissue. Molecular and Genetic Aspects
of Obesity. Edited by George A. Bray and Donna H. Ryan, Louisiana
State University Press, Baton Rouge and London, Volume 5, p.
593-608.
Boyer, B. B., O. A. Ormseth, M. Nicolson, and MA. Pelleymounter
(1996) Is leptin involved in the seasonal control of appetite
in hibernating mammals. Adaptations to the Cold, Tenth International
Hibernation Symposium. Edited by Stewart Nicol and Fritz Geiser,
University of New England Press, Armidale p. 237-244.
Testut, P., Renard, CA., Terradillos, O., Vitvitski-Trepo, L.,
Tekaia, F., Degott, C., Blake, J., Boyer, B., and Buendia, MA
(1996) A new hepadnavirus endemic in arctic ground squirrels
in Alaska J. Virology 70:4210-4219.
Kozak, U. C., Kopecky, J., Teisinger, J. Enerback, S. Boyer,
B., Kozak, L. P. (1994) An Upstream enhancer regulating brown-fat-specific
expression of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein gene. Mol.
Cell. Biol. 14:59-67.
Lowell, B. B., S-Susulic, V., Hamann, A., Lawitts, J. A., Himms-Hagen,
J., Boyer, B. B., Kozak, L. P., and Flier, J. S. (1993) Development
of obesity in transgenic mice after genetic ablation of brown
adipose tissue. Nature 366:740-742.
Boyer, B. B., Barnes, B. M., Kopecky, J., Jacobsson, A. and
Hermanska, J. (1993) Molecular control of prehibernation brown
fat growth in arctic ground squirrels. Life in the Cold, Ecological,
Physiological, and Molecular Mechanisms. Edited by C. Carey,
G. Florant, Bruce Wunder and B. Horwitz., p. 483-491.
Boyer, B. B. and Kozak, L. P. (1991) The mitochondrial uncoupling
protein gene in brown fat: Correlation between DNase I hypersensitivity
and expression in transgenic mice. Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:4147-4156.
Boyer, B. B. and Odessey, R., (1991) Kinetic characterization
of branched chain ketoacid dehydrogenase. Archiv. Biochem. Biophys.
285:1-7.
Boyer, B. B. and Odessey, R., (1990) Quantitative control analysis
of branched chain 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complex activity
by feedback inhibition. Biochem. J. 271: 523-528.
Associate Professor of Molecular Biology
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Institute of Arctic Biology and Center for Alaska Native Health
Research
311 Irving I Building
Fairbanks, AK 99775
907-474-7733 (phone)
907-474-5700 (fax)
e-mail: bert.boyer@uaf.edu |
