faculty

Heiko T. Jansen

Heiko T. Jansen

Associate Professor

heiko@wsu.edu

Office
Room: (VBR) 315
Phone: (509)-335-7056

 

Current Positions

2007-Present Associate Professor, IPN, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Education

1982 B.A. Biology; Franklin Pierce College, Rindge, NH
1987 M.S. Pharmacology/Toxicology; University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, IL
1993 Ph.D Physiology; University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, IL

Research

Research in the Jansen lab focuses on the role of biological rhythms in the expression of motivated behaviors, endocrine physiology and metabolism.  Humans and other animals have internalized geophysical properties such as the daily light:dark cycles and seasonal changes in daylength into their physiology to enable synchronization with the environment.  Disruption of this process either through jet-lag, shift work or gene mutation can have a negative impact on human and animal physiology.  Nevertheless, evidence of arrhythmicity or loss of synchronization in some animals suggests that rhythms may be abandoned under certain conditions as part of their normal annual cycles.  Our goal is to better understand the mechanisms by which rhythms, or the lack thereof, can maintain an adaptive physiology in animals and man.

Lab Members
View the members of Dr. Jansen's Lab here: Lab Members

Current Funding

WSU/NRS Neuroendocrine modulation of seasonal behaviors in the grizzly bear, PI
Foothills Research Institute Understanding how variations in stress and energy influence reproduction in female brown bears with applications for the recovery of brown bears in Alberta, Co-PI

Publications on PubMed

Select Publications

  • Ware JV, Rode KD, Pagan AM, Bromaghin J, Robbins CT, Erlenbach J, Jensen S, Cutting A, Nicassio-Hiskey N, Hash A, Owen M, Jansen HT (2015) Validation of mercury tip-switch and accelerometer activity sensors for identifying resting and active behaviors in bears. Ursus In Press PMID: PMCID:
  • Ware JV, Nelson OL, Robbins CT, Jansen HT (2013)

    Temporal organization of activity in the brown bear (Ursus arctos): roles of circadian rhythms, light, and food entrainment

    Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 1;303(9):R890-902. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00313.2012 PMID: 22972838 PMCID:
  • Ware JV, Nelson OL, Robbins CT, Carter PA, Sarver BA, Jansen HT (2013)

    Endocrine rhythms in the brown bear (Ursus arctos): Evidence supporting selection for decreased pineal gland size

    Physiol Rep 1(3):e00048. doi: 10.1002/phy2.48 PMID: 24303132 PMCID: PMC3835004
  • Li AJ, Wiater MF, Oostrom MT, Smith BR, Wang Q, Dinh TT, Roberts BL, Jansen HT, Ritter S (2012)

    Leptin-sensitive neurons in the arcuate nuclei contribute to endogenous feeding rhythms

    Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 302(11):R1313-26. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00086.2012 PMID: 22492818 PMCID: PMC3378345
  • Jansen HT, Sergeeva A, Stark G, Sorg BA (2012)

    Circadian discrimination of reward: evidence for simultaneous yet separable food- and drug-entrained rhythms in the rat

    Chronobiol Int. 29(4):454-68. doi: 10.3109/07420528.2012.667467 PMID: 22475541 PMCID:
  • Rigano KS, Gehring JL, Evans Hutzenbiler BD, Chen AV, Nelson OL, Vella CA, Robbins CT, Jansen HT (2017) Life in the fat lane: seasonal regulation of insulin sensitivity, food intake, and adipose biology in brown bears J Comp Physiol B 187(4), 649-676 PMID: 27987017 PMCID:
  • Jansen HT, Leise T, Stenhouse G, Pigeon K, Kasworm W, Teisberg J, Radandt T, Dallmann R, Brown S, Robbins CT (2016) The bear circadian clock doesn't 'sleep' during winter dormancy Front Zool 13, 42 PMID: 27660641 PMCID: PMC5026772