Erica Crespi
Assistant Professor of Biology Olmsted Hall Room 323A
Phone: 845-437- 7313
Fax 845-437-7315
- B A. 1992 Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
- M. S. 1996 Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
- Ph. D., 2001 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Research Interests
The ultimate goals of my research are to understand how organisms respond to adverse environmental conditions, and how this ability changes throughout the life of an animal. My research focuses on the interactions between the neuroendocrine stress axis and physiological regulators of energy balance (e.g., leptin, glucocorticoids, neuropeptide Y) as mechanisms that transduce environmental information into metabolic, behavioral, developmental, and morphological responses (i.e., phenotypic plasticity) in vertebrates. I am also interested in studying how environmental conditions experienced during early developmental can alter behavior, growth, reproduction, and fitness during later life stages.
I primarily use amphibian model systems to study environmental and maternal effects on developmental plasticity, but I also study the effects of the maternal intrauterine environment on fetal and post-natal growth in sheep, a major model system for biomedical studies. I combine molecular, behavioral, developmental and ecological experimental approaches to understand these complex and interrelated responses and their fitness consequences. This multidisciplinary research program allows students to work on projects in the laboratory, in the field, or both.
Teaching Interests
Dr. Crespi teaches Introduction to Biological Investigation (Biol 106), Animal Physiology (Biol 228), Comparative and Functional Vertebrate Anatomy (Biol 288) Environmental Physiology/Endocrinology of Animals (Biol 380). She is also a member of the Neuroscience and Biochemistry programs.
Genomics Education
I am a co-investigator on a Teagle Foundation Fresh Thinking Grant (awarded January 2007) titled, "Teaching Big Science at Small Colleges: a Genomics Collaboration," along with Jodi Schwarz from Vassar College, and others from Williams College, Barnard College, Carleton College, Ohio State University and Columbia University. The purpose of this grant is to promote exploration and implementation of new pedagogy and curriculum for teaching genomics at liberal arts colleges. This initiative promotes the design of inquiry-based, integrative instructional units to give undergraduate students hands-on experience working on genomic-level research projects.
Jodi Schwarz and I hosted a Genomics Curriculum Development Workshop at Vassar College during July 2007, in which educators from 10 colleges attended, as well as speakers from the Joint Genome Institute, Applied Biosystems, and Schering-Plough (see workshop information)
For more information, see Teaching Genomics Resource
For an example of an inquiry-based laboratory module I designed for my Comparative Anatomy course visit http://serc.carleton.edu/genomics/units/19232.html
Selected Publications
- Crespi, E.J. and Denver R.J. 2006. Molecular cloning and functional analysis of leptin (obese gene) of the South African clawed frog Xenopus laevis. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 103:10092-10097. See article featured on the National Science Foundation Discoveries Website .
- Crespi, E.J., Steckler, T.L., Mohankumar, P., Padmanabhan, V. 2006. Prenatal exposure to excess testosterone modifies the developmental trajectory of the IGF system in female sheep. J. Physiol. 572:119-130.
- RJ Denver, EJ Crespi. 2006. Stress hormones and human developmental plasticity: Lessons from tadpoles. NeoReviews 7:e183-e188.
- Vlaeminck-Guillem V, Duffraisse M, Seugnet I, Plateroti M, Margotat A, Duterque-Coquillaud M, Crespi EJ, Denver RJ, Demeneix B, Laudet V. 2006. Pedomorphosis revisited: thyroid hormone receptors are functional in Necturus maculosus. Evol Dev. 8:284-292.
- Boorse, G.C., Crespi, E.J., Dautzenberg, F.M. and Denver, R.J. 2005. Urocortins from the South African clawed frog Xenopus laevis: Conservation of structure and function in tetrapod evolution. Endocrinology 146:4851-4860.
- Crespi, E. J., and Denver, R. J. 2005. Roles of stress hormones in food intake regulation in anuran amphibians throughout the life cycle. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A 141:381-390.
- Crespi, E. J., and Denver, R. J. 2005. Ancient origins of developmental plasticity in humans. American Journal of Human Biology
- Crespi E. J., and Denver, R. J. 2004. Ontogeny of corticotropin-releasing hormone effects on locomotion and foraging in the Western spadefoot toad, Spea hammondii. Hormones and Behavior 46:399-410.
- Crespi, E. J., Vaudry, H., Denver, R. J. 2004. The role of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), neuropeptide Y (NPY) and corticosterone in the regulation of food intake in the frog, Xenopus laevis. Journal of Neuroendocrinology 16:279-288.
- Manikkam, M., Crespi, E. J., Doop, D., Herkimer, C., Lee, J.S., Yu, S., Brown, M.B., Foster, D.L., and Padmanabhan, V. 2004. Fetal programming: prenatal testosterone excess leads to fetal growth retardation and postnatal catch-up growth in sheep. Endocrinology 145:790-798.
- Crespi, E. J., and Lessig, H. 2004. Mothers influence offspring body size through post-ovipositional maternal effects in the redbacked salamander, Plethodon cinereus. Oecologia 138: 306-311.
- Crespi, E. J., Rissler, L. J., and Browne, R. A. 2003. Testing Pleistocene refugia theory: Historical biogeography of a high-elevation salamander, Desmognathus wrighti, in the southern Appalachians. Molecular Ecology 12:969-984.