Brian Searcy, PhD

Course Information

At Pacific University, all faculty teach a variety of different courses. Typically, we do not use graduate teaching assistants, which means that your classes will be taught by professors and that you will have plenty of opportunities to get to know the faculty in your discipline.

Below I have listed some of the courses that I teach. We are always developing and trying out new classes, so the list may change now and then.

BIOL 425 | Animal Behavior

HBIO 230 | Human Anatomy & Physiology I

HBIO 320L | Human Anatomy & Physiology Lab I

HBIO 231 | Human Anatomoy & Physiology II

HBIO 231L | Human Anatomy & Physiology Lab II

KINES 155 | NT: Foundations International Surfing

KINES 255 | NT: Fundamentals International Surfing

KINES 498 | Capstone: In Progress

KINES 499 | Senior Capstone

Education

PhD in Zoology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., 2005

MA, Boston University Marine Program, Woods Hole, Mass., 1997

Bachelor of Arts in Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Cali., 1993

Research Interests

My post-doctoral research at Colorado State University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Stuart Tobet, investigated the mechanisms through which sex differences develop in the embryonic brain. Specifically I worked on a project identifying the means through which the gonadal steroid, estradiol, exerts rapid changes in the rate of neuron movement in the pre-optic area of the hypothalamus during early sexual differentiation.

During my post-doctoral research at Northern Arizona University, I examined endocrine disrupters in water. While at NAU I was involved in three projects. The first project, working in the laboratory of Dr. Timothy Vail, was to develop ELISAs and lateral-flow immunoassays to rapidly quantify estrogenic compounds in water. We used both enzymes and nano-particles as markers in this quantification process. My second project, conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Catherine Propper, used gene chip micro-arrays to identify thyroid hormone sensitive genes in the African clawed-frog, Xenopus laevis. We have identified a subset of these genes as markers for thyroid hormone disruption by endocrine disruptors and have begun to characterize changes in expression of these genes following endocrine disruptor exposure using quantitative PCR. The third project involves studying the effects of exposure to treated wastewater effluent on social behaviors in Xenopus tropicalis.

Publications

Searcy, B. T, S.M. Beckstrom-Sternberg, J. S. Beckstrom-Sternberg, P. Stafford, A. Schwendiman, J. Soto-Pena, M.C. Owen, C. Ramirez, J. Phillips, N. Veldhoen, C.C. Helbing and C.R. Propper. Thyroid Hormone-Dependent Development in Xenopus laevis: A Sensitive Screen of Thyroid Hormone Signaling Disruption by Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent. General and Comparative Endocrinology (2012) 176(3): 481-492.

Stratton, M.S., B.T. Searcy, and S.A. Tobet. GABA Regulates Corticotropin Releasing Hormone Levels in the Paraventricular Nucleus of Newborn Mice. Physiology and Behavior (2011) 104 (2): 327-333.

Searcy, B.T., R.R. Thompson, C.S. Bradford, T.M. Filtz and F.L. Moore. Identification and Characterization of Mesotocin and V1a-like Vastocin Receptors in a Urodele Amphibian, Taricha granulosa. General and Comparative Endocrinology (2011) 170: 131-143.

Searcy B.T., E.A Walthers, R.R.Thompson, B.A. Heppner, and F.L. Moore. Identification of mesotocin and vasotocin nucleotide sequences in two species of urodele amphibian. General and Comparative Endocrinology (2009) 160(2):111-116

Bradford,C.S., B.T. Searcy, E.A. Walthers, and F.L. Moore. Cloning, Expression, and Cloning, Heterologous Expression, and Pharmacological Characterization of a Kappa Opioid Receptor from the Brain of the Rough-skinned Newt, Taricha granulosa. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology (2005) 34(3):809-23

Hollis D.M., J. Chu, E.A. Walthers, B.L. Heppner, B.T. Searcy, and F.L. Moore. Neuroanatomical distribution of vasotocin and mesotocin in two urodele amphibians (Plethodon shermani and Taricha granulosa). Brain Research (2005) 1035(1):1-12.

Evans, S. J., B.T. Searcy and F.L. Moore. A subset of kappa opioid ligands bind to the membrane glucocorticoid receptor in an amphibian brain. Endocrinology (2000) 141(7): 2294- 2300.

Hanstein B., R. Eckner, J. DiRenzo, S. Halachmi, H. Liu, B.T. Searcy, R. Kurokawa, and M. Brown. p300 is a component of an estrogen receptor coactivator complex. PNAS (1996) 93(21):11540-5

Awards and Grants

2012 | American Society for Microbiology Mountain-West Regional Meeting

2012 | Mentor of Best Undergraduate Research Presentation

2011 | Rocky Mountain Neuroscience Group Annual Meeting Best Postdoctoral Poster

2007 | NAU Technology and Research Initiative Fund (ERDENE) $24,996 Co-Principle Investigator

2000 | Zoology Research Fund $500 Department of Zoology, Oregon State University

1999 | Zoology Research Fund $500 Department of Zoology, Oregon State University