Gregory Stephens, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Stephens
Phone: (302) 831-3040
Fax: (302) 831-2281
Email: gstephen@udel.edu
Office: 236 Wolf Hall
Address:
Department of Biological Sciences
Wolf Hall
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
Education
- B.S., Ph.D. - University of Kansas
Research Interests
My research is currently done in collaboration with Professor David Usher. We are studying the evolution of lipid transport using the turtle as a model. Turtles, being poikilothermic, have less energetic demands than mammals and, one would think, less need for dietary fatty acid uptake and transport. Also, because they experience large fluctuations in body temperature, they may have a greater need to regulate (and possibly change) membrane cholesterol concentrations. This suggests that the evolutionary pressures for apolipoproteins structure and function should be very different in turtles compared to mammals. Preliminary studies have in our lab have suggested that this hypothesis is correct.
Selected Publications
- Cain W, Song L, Stephens G, Usher D. Characterization of lipoproteins from the turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans, in fasted and fed states. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2003;134(4):783–794.
- Silldorff EP, Stephens GA. Effects of converting enzyme inhibition and alpha receptor blockade on the angiotensin pressor response in the American alligator. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 1992;87(1):134–140.
- Silldorff EP, Stephens GA. The pressor response to exogenous angiotensin I and its blockade by angiotensin II analogues in the American alligator. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 1992;87(1):141–148.
- Sanford B, Stephens GA. The effects of adrenocorticotropin hormone and angiotensin II on adrenal corticosteroid secretions in the freshwater turtle Pseudemys scripta. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 1988;72(1):107–114.
