Fran Sandmeier

 Franziska C. Sandmeier, Ph. D. 

 Current position: Associate Professor, Biology Department, Colorado State University - Pueblo

Address: 2200 Bonforte Blvd., Pueblo, CO 81001

Email: franziska.sandmeier@csupueblo.edu

Past positions/affiliations: Assistant Professor, Lindenwood University - Belleville; Adjunct faculty in Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology (EECB), Biology Department, University of NV, Reno

Research interests:

I am interested in ecological and comparative immunology of vertebrate taxa, especially in ways in which eco-immunology and disease ecology can be integrated into the practice of conservation biology. Much of my  research has focused on reptiles in the Mojave Desert - primarily the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Different studies have explored ways in which extrinsic factors (e.g. season, climatic factors, heterogeneity of habitat, etc.), as well as intrinsic factors (e.g. gender, endo vs ectothermy, metabolic rates, phylogeny, etc.) may influence host-pathogen dynamics.

On a more theoretical level, I have used examples from reptile immunology to hypothesize how the difference between endothermic and ectothermic animals' metabolic rates may have led to evolutionary differences in the development and current function of vertebrate immune systems. 

I believe strongly in engaging students, volunteers, and the public in all of my research. Engaging others in my research is not only rewarding for myself, but starts a dialogue that connects us all to pertinent, on-going issues in both conservation biology and public health.

Graduate positions:

CSU-Pueblo has a MS program in Biology. If you are interested in pursuing a degree in my lab, contact me through email. Current projects in my lab include (but are not limited to): quantifying phagocytosis of pathogens by tortoise leukocytes and conservation biology and ecology of ornate box turtles (Terrapene ornata) in southern CO.

Current MS Students:

Aiden Masek: Acidification and bacterial-killing by B1 lymphocytes in tortoises

Cameron Muransky: Ornate box turtle populations - prefered habitats and ecology - in Pueblo Co., CO

Ellen Norton: Home range and habitat use of ornate box turtles (T. ornata) at the Pueblo Chemical Depot

Past MS Students:

Kendra Wilson, MS (defended 2018): Prevalence of the potential pathogen Pasteurella testudinis in wild populations of the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)

Summer Slama, MS (defended 2020): Phagocytosis of lymphocytes in desert tortoises: seasonal acclimation

Shalyn Bauschlicher, MS (defended 2021): Virulence factors of M. agassizii, in range-wide samples of Mojave desert tortoises

Kiara Olson: Immunological memory and alternate mechanisms of immune-priming in tortoises

Sedona Sargent: Seasonal changes in phagocytosis of white blood cells in T. ornata

Tori Martinez: Microbes in the air, soil, and nasal tracts of T. ornata

Mariah Painter: Thermally-dependent cell-based killing of microbes in G. agassizii

Holly Nelson: Thermal phagocytic performance of immue cells in G. agassizii

Jenna Morales: Thermally-dependent growth of nasal microbes in G. agassizii

Publications:

Sandmeier, F.C., K. Olson, A. Martin, and T. Urban. 2025. Memory responses to ovalbumin-immunization in Mojave desert tortoises. Developmental and Comparative Immunology, 105322.

Tracy, C. R., M. R. Gordon, E. T. Simandle, M. L. Forester, M. Beck, F. C. Sandmeier, B. E. Hagerty, R. N. Fisher, and P. M. Noles. 2024. The Bufo boreas complex in the Great Basin, USA. Box 6 in: Olson, D.H. and D.S. Pilliod, Amphibians of the US West: Biogeography, Diversity, Threats, and Conservation Actions. Chapter 11 in: Dodd, C.K, Jr., H. Heatwole, and S. King (eds.). Amphibian Biology, Volume 9: Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians in the Western Hemisphere, Part 7, Canada and the United States.

Sandmeier, F.C. 2024. Quantification of thermal acclimation in immune functions in ectothermic animals. Biology 13:179.

Sandmeier, F.C. 2024. Recent advances in understanding the immune system of reptiles. Encyclopedia of Immunobiology, 2e. doi:10.1016/B978-0-128-24465-4.00038-7.

Boeke, J., and Build-a-Genome Course*. 2024. Build-A-Genome and the “awesome power of undergraduates”. Genetics 227:iyae083.

*All Build-a-Genome Course collaborators are listed in Table 1 by name, as co-authors.

Sandmeier, F.C., J. Morales, M. Gomez, M. Kester, K. Gann-Archuleta, C. Crooker, J.M. Goessling, C.R. Tracy, and C.L Weitzman. 2023. Ecoimmunological differences among congeneric tortoises in the United States. Journal of Zoology 321: 237-248.

Bauschlicher, S.N., C.L. Weitzman, V. Martinez*, C.R. Tracy, D. Alvarez-Ponce, and F.C. Sandmeier. 2023. Assessing spatial distribution, genetic variants, and virulence of pathogen Mycoplasma agassizii in threatened Mojave desert tortoises. Ecology and Evolution 6:e10173.

Sandmeier, F.C., K.L. Leonard, C.L. Weitzman, and C.R. Tracy. 2022. Potential facilitation between a commensal and pathogenic microbe in a wildlife disease. Ecohealth 19:427-438.

Slama, S.L., G.S. Williams, M.N. Painter, M.D. Sheedy, and F.C. Sandmeier. 2022. Temperature and season influence phagocytosis by B1 lymphocytes in the Mojave desert tortoise. Integrative and Comparative Biology 62:1683-1692.

Peterson, E.K., C.D. Jones, F.C. Sandmeier, A. Arellano, CA Back, A. Canney, J. Fender, J. Gorski, N. Heintzelman, K. Healey, M. Kester, M. Gomez, D. Klinger, A. Liao, C.W. Ramos, and B. Vanden Heuvel. 2021. Drought masks impacts of herbivory on biodiversity in a semi-arid shortgrass prairie in southeastern Colorado. Journal of Arid Environments.

Weitzman, C.L., B.E. Hagerty, F.C. Sandmeier, and C.R. Tracy. 2021. Desert tortoises in Zion National Park represent natural extension of eastern distribution. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 30:91-96.

Slama, S.L., M.N. Painter, M.D. Sheedy, and F.C. Sandmeier. 2021. Quantifying phagocytic lymphocytes in ectothermic vertebrates: a simplified technique for assessing immune function. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 12:548-552.

Luzuriaga-Neira, A., F.C. Sandmeier, C.L. Weitzman, C.R. Tracy, S.N. Bauschlicher, R.L. Tillet, and D. Alvarez-Ponce. 2021. Mycoplasma agassizii, an opportunistic pathogen of tortoises, shows very little genetic variation across the Mojave and Sonora Deserts. PLOS ONE 2:30245895.

Gordon, M.R., E.T. Simandle, F.C. Sandmeier, and C.R. Tracy. 2020. Two new cryptic endemic toads of Bufo discovered in central Nevada, Western United States (Amphibia: Bufonidae: Bufo (Anaxyrus)). Copeia 108:166-183.

Sandmeier, F.C., K.L Leonard, C.R. Tracy, K.K. Drake, T.E. Esque, K. Nussear, and J.M. Germano. 2019. Tools to understand seasonality in health: quantification of microbe loads and analyses of compositional ecoimmunological data reveal complex patterns in tortoise populations. Canadian Journal of Zoology 97:841-848.

Sandmeier, F.C., R. Ruiz, R., K.L. Leonard, B. Bayer, C. Dowd, and T. Urban. 2019. A quantitative PCR assay for a mycoplasma from emydid turtles indicates high prevalence in healthy three-toed box turtles (Terrapene carolina triunguis) from Missouri, USA. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 55:589-596.

Goessling, J.M., C. Guyer, J.C. Godwin, S.M. Herman, F.C. Sandmeier, L.L. Smith, and M.T. Mendonça. 2019. Upper respiratory tract disease and associated diagnostic tests of mycoplasmosis in Alabama populations of the Gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus. PLoS ONE 14:e0214845.

Weitzman, C.L., F.C. Sandmeier, and C.R. Tracy. 2018. Host species, pathogens, and disease associated with divergent nasal microbial communities in tortoises. Royal Society Open Science 5:181068.

Sandmeier, F.C., C.L. Weitzman, and C.R. Tracy. 2018. An ecoimmunological approach to disease in tortoises reveals the importance of lymphocytes. Ecosphere 9:e02427.

Weitzman, C.L., R.L. Tillett, F.C. Sandmeier, C.R. Tracy, and D. Alvarez-Ponce. 2018. High quality draft genome sequence of Mycoplasma testudineum strain BH29T, isolated from the respiratory tract of a desert tortoise.
Standards in Genomic Sciences 13:9. 10.1186/s40793-018-0309-z.

Alvarez-Ponce, D., C.L. Weitzman, R.L. Tillett, F.C. Sandmeier, and C.R. Tracy. 2018. High quality draft genome sequences of Mycoplasma agassizii strains PS6T and 723 isolated from Gopherus tortoises with upper respiratory tract disease. Standards in Genomic Sciences 13:12.

Sandmeier, F.C., N.K. Maloney, C.R. Tracy, D. Hyde, H. Mohammadpour, R. Marlow, S. DuPré, and K. Hunter. 2017. Chronic disease in the Mojave desert tortoise: host physiology and recrudescence obscure patterns of pathogen transmission. Ecology and Evolution 7:10616-10629. DOI 10.1002/ece3.3480.

Weitzman, C.L., R. Gov, F.C. Sandmeier, S. Snyder, and C.R. Tracy. 2017. Co-infection does not predict disease signs in Gopherus tortoises. Royal Society Open 4:171003.

Weitzman, C.L. F.C. Sandmeier, and C.R. Tracy. 2017. Prevalence and diversity of the upper respiratory pathogen Mycoplasma agassizii in Mojave desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii). Herpetologica 73:113-120.

Sandmeier, F.C., C.L. Weitzman, K.N. Maloney, C.R. Tracy, N. Nieto, M.B. Teglas, K.W. Hunter, S. DuPré, C.M. Gienger, and M.W. Tuma. 2017. Comparison of current methods for the detection of chronic mycoplasmal URTD in wild populations of the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Journal of Wildlife Disease 53:91-101.

Sandmeier, F.C., K.R. Horn, and C.R. Tracy. 2016. Temperature-independent, seasonal fluctuations in immune function of the Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Canadian Journal of Zoology 95:583-590.

Sandmeier, F.C. and C.R. Tracy. 2014. The metabolic pace-of-life model: incorporating ectothermic organisms into the theory of vertebrate ecoimmunology. Integrative and Comparative Biology. doi:10.1093/icb/icu21.

Sandmeier, F.C., C.R. Tracy, B. Hagerty, S. DuPré, H. Mohammedopour, K.W. Hunter. 2013. Mycoplasmal upper respiratory tract disease across the range of the threatened Mojave desert tortoise: associations with thermal regime and natural antibodies. EcoHealth 10:63-71.

DuPré, S.A., C.R. Tracy, F.C. Sandmeier, K.W. Hunter. 2012. Quantitative PCR method for Pasteurella testudinis DNA in nasal lavage samples from the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Journal of Microbiological Methods 91:443-447.

Sandmeier, F.C., C.R. Tracy, S. DuPré, K.W. Hunter. 2012. A trade-off between natural and acquired antibody production in a reptile: implications for long-term resistance to disease. Biology Open. doi:10-1242/bio.20122527

Sandmeier, F.C., C. R. Tracy, S. DuPré, H. Mohammadpour, K.W. Hunter. 2011. URTD (upper respiratory tract disease), mycoplasmosis, and antibody-responses in the Mojave desert tortoise. Science Newsletter, Mojave National Preserve 1:8-13.

Sandmeier, F.C., C.R. Tracy, S. DuPré, K.W. Hunter. 2009. Upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) as a threat to desert tortoise populations: a reevalutation. Biological Conservation 142:1255-1268

Hunter, K.W., Jr., S,A. DuPré, T. Sharp, F.C. Sandmeier, C.R. Tracy. 2008. Western blot can distinguish natural and acquired antibodies to Mycoplasma agassizii in the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Journal of Microbiological Methods 75: 464-471.