I fell in love with stable isotopes in the mid-1990s, when I realized I could use them to figure out the metabolic fate of dietary sugars in nectar-feeding insects.  My research pivoted into nutritional epidemiology in the mid-2000's with another epiphany; that stable isotopes could serve as dietary biomarkers for understanding how diet relates to health in human populations. 

My interests are human and animal physiology, nutrition and adaptive mechanisms of metabolic processes.

•  Resume

Outside of the lab I like to hike with my dogs, ski, bike and enjoy remote rafting trips in Alaska.

Dr. Jessica 

Johnson, Postdoc

jjjohnson20@alaska.edu

907.474.2653

Arctic Health Research Bldg Rm 232

I am an organic geochemist interested in studying the earth's biogeochemical processes using stable isotopes and biomarkers. Here I will be trying to understand the human's diet pattern using carbon isotope ratios in amino acids.

 I am a trophic ecologist who studies bird responses to environmental change using stable isotope applications. I completed my PhD in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University where I used compound-specific stable isotopes of amino acids to examine historical and millennial-scale shifts in the Southern Ocean ecosystem using archived Adélie penguin tissues. I am interested in exploring additional applications of amino acid stable isotope analysis to evaluate food web ecology and ecosystem responses to rapid and long-term environmental change, and am currently assessing standardization approaches to improve the precision and accuracy of carbon isotope ratio measurements of amino acids.

Dr Laura Oxtoby

Postdoc 2018 - 2020

• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Oxtoby

• Project - Evaluating carbon isotope ratios of plasma and adipose tissue fatty acids as biomarkers of meat, fish and soda intake.

Justin Smith 

MS 2017

• Department of Defense (DoD), United States Army Garrison Alaska (USAG Alaska) Department of Public Works Environmental Division (DPW ENV).

• justin.a.smith230.civ@mail.mil  |  907-361-4539

Garrett Savory 

MS 2013

• Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University at Fort Wainwright, Alaska  

• garrett.savory@colostate.edu

Dr Kyungcheol Choy

Postdoc 2011 - 2013

• Department of Cultural Anthropology, Hanyang University, Ansan, South Korea 

• https://www.hanyang.ac.kr/web/eng/e402 

• kchoy@hanyang.ac.kr

Dr Sarah H. Nash

PhD 2013

• Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa

• https://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/people/sarah-nash/

• sarah-nash@uiowa.edu 

Dr Trixie Lee Pittman

PhD 2012

• Department of Biology, Harding University

• https://www.harding.edu/academics/colleges-departments/sciences/biology/faculty

• tnlee@harding.edu

Dr Caroline van Hemert

PhD 2012

• Author https://www.carolinevanhemert.com/

•  Research Wildlife Biologist at the Alaska Science Center, USGS.

•  https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/caroline-r-van-hemert

• cvanhemert@usgs.gov

Dr Thomas Larsen

Postdoc 2007 - 2009

• Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany; https://www.shh.mpg.de/person/94375/25522

•  Project  - Stable Isotope Fingerprinting:  Evaluating amino acid carbon isotope ratios as markers for biosynthetic source

• larsen@shh.mpg.de

Justine Sears

MS 2007

• Consultant at Vermont Energy Investment Corporation https://cbey.yale.edu/our-community/justine-sears