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Brief Biography
I grew up on a small dairy farm in rural South Dakota and received my BS in ecology and political science from the University of South Dakota. My PhD thesis is investigating the influence of membrane microdomains and specifically the ganglioside GM1 in ion channel function and cell signalling using mammalian sperm during fertilization as a model. I am large-animal focused, with a primary interest in public health, vector-borne disease, and livestock systems in developing countries and a background in habitat management and mapping. I have a strong interest in conservation and teaching.
Education
BS in Biological Sciences from
University of South Dakota, Vermillion
Research Interests
I am currently investigating the role of membrane microdomains in ion channel activity and cell communication using mammalian sperm as a model. Specifically, I am investigating the role of the ganglioside GM1 in modulation of signaling processes important to mammalian sperm capacitation and acrosomal exocytosis.
Publications & Presentations
GM1 dynamics as a marker for membrane changes associated with the process of capacitation in murine and bovine spermatozoa Buttke DE, Selvaraj V, Asano A, McElwee JL, Wolff CA, Nelson JL, Klaus AV, Hunnicutt GR, Travis AJ. 2007; Journal of Andrology. 28(4):588-99.
Visualization of GM1 with cholera toxin B in live epididymal versus ejaculated bull, mouse, and human spermatozoa Buttke DE, Nelson JL, Schlegel PN, Hunnicut GR, and Travis AJ. 2006; Biol Reprod. 74 (5): 889-895.
Segregation of micron scale membrane subdomains in murine sperm Selvaraj V, Asano A, Buttke DE, McElwee JL, Wolff CA, Nelson JL, Merdiushev T, Fornes MW, Rothblat GH, Kopf GS, and Travis AJ. 2006; J Cell Physiology 206:636-646.
Selected as an invited speaker at the American Society for Cell Biology international meeting with over 9,000 attendees in Washington, D.C. on the influence of membrane microdomains in mammalian sperm function, December of 2007.
Presented poster on the influence of gangliosides on signaling events related to sperm capacitation at the Gordon Conference on Fertilization and the Early Embryo in July of 2007
Presented a talk entitled "The role of GM1 in mammalian spermatozoa" at the James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health weekly seminar in May of 2006
Presented poster "Visualization of GM1 in epididymal versus ejaculated mammalian sperm, and possible roles for GM1 in sperm capacitation" at the 2006 Keystone Symposium on Lipid Rafts in Cell Function in March of 2006
Presented poster on GM1 visualization in epididymal versus ejaculated bull, mouse, and human sperm at the Gordon Conference on Fertilization and the Early Embryo in July of 2005
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