Dr Jayne Brian
Research Fellow
Brunel University
Uxbridge
UB8 3PH
United Kingdom
About Jayne
My research interests lie in the issues surrounding the management and protection of the aquatic environment. After completing my studies in Edinburgh, I was offered the opportunity to work, as a post-doc, with Professor Sumpter, to investigate the effects of mixtures of estrogenic chemicals in fish. This research has considered responses at various levels of biological organisation, from changes in gene expression, through to morphological and physiological effects and impacts on reproductive performance. More recently, I have been exploring whether additional stressors (e.g. temperature, dissolved oxygen, presence of additional chemicals etc.) influence the way in which fish respond to estrogenic mixtures. I have also begun some preliminary studies to investigate some of the implications of climate change for freshwater fish. I plan to pursue these research strands independently in my current, tenured research post.
Qualifications
- 1993-1997: BSc Ecology (Hons: fisheries management). Edinburgh University
- 1997-1998: MSc Water resource management, Napier University, Edinburgh
- 1999-2002: PhD Aquatic environmental biology, Napier University, Edinburgh
Career
- 2002-2006: Post-doc. School of Biosciences, Brunel University
- 2006-2009: Post-doc. Institute for the Environment, Brunel University
- 2009-present: Research fellow. Institute for the Environment, Brunel University
Research
Research Interests
Research Activity
My research has focussed on the impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the aquatic environment. During my Ph.D. studies, I explored population variability in the shore crab, with a view to the identification of biomarkers of exposure to hormonally-active chemicals (Brian, 2005). My post-doctoral research centred on the analysis of the combined effect of estrogenic chemicals, using the fathead minnow as a test species. Initially, this work was carried out as part of an international consortium (ACE), funded by the EC, and more recently, using funds awarded by NERC.
Through my involvement with the ACE project, it has been possible to demonstrate that mixtures of estrogenic chemicals act together, according to the principles of concentration addition, to affect the physiology of male fish (Brian et al. 2005). This work has also highlighted the capacity for estrogenic chemicals to act together at very low and individually ineffective concentrations to affect reproductive endpoints, such as fecundity and the expression of sexual characteristics (Brian et al. 2007).
Subsequently, my post-doctoral research considered the potential for confounding factors (both chemical and physical) influence the response of fish to mixtures of estrogenic chemicals. This revealed that the rate of the estrogenic response may be increased in the presence of non-estrogenic chemicals, such as surfactants, as well as in response to higher temperatures (e.g. Brian et al. 2008; Harris et al. 2009). These findings contribute to our understanding of the hazard posed by mixtures under more environmentally realistic exposure regimes.
I was recently granted a tenured research position within the Institute and, in this role, I will continue to explore how fish respond to chemicals under multiple-stress, environmentally-relevant exposure situations. In particular, I am interested in the implications of climate change for UK fish populations and I have begun some preliminary research to explore how rearing temperature influences the growth and reproductive development of lab-reared fish. Publications relating to this work are currently in preparation.
Grants and Fellowships
- 2008 – European Molecular Biology Organisation. Short term travel fellowship to the University of Florida: Microarray technology and mixture effects on fish.
- 2006 - Fisheries Society of the British Isles. Principal Investigator: An investigation into the vitellogenic response of fish at elevated temperatures: protein induction vs. gene expression.
- 2005 – NERC standard grant. Recognised researcher: Confounding factors in the risk assessment of estrogenic mixtures.
- 2003 – British Ecological Society. Principle Investigator: Oestrogenic effects on the nesting behaviour of male three-spined stickleback.
Training awards
- HEA: Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences award for training in laboratory skills – techniques in molecular biology; nucleic acids and genomics.
- 2006 – Roberts Review Fund: for training in techniques in molecular biology – nucleic acids and genomics. University of Hertfordshire.
Research Supervision
Please contact me if you are interested in pursuing postgraduate or postdoctoral research in the following areas:
- endocrine disruption
- the ecotoxicology of mixtures
- responses to multiple stressors
- climate change impacts on fish
External Duties
- Member of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI), the British Ecological Society (BES) and the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA).
- Reviews articles for a number of journals including Environmental Health Perspectives, Environmental Science and Technology, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology and Aquatic Toxicology.
- Reviews grant applications for both UK and US funding bodies.
Publications
Publications
Journal Papers
(2011) Brian, JV., Beresford, N., Margiotta-Casaluci, L. and Sumpter, JP., Preliminary data on the influence of rearing temperature on the growth and reproductive status of fathead minnows Pimephales promelas, Journal of Fish Biology 79 (1) : 80- 88 Download publication
(2011) Li, Z., Kroll, KJ., Jensen, KM., Villeneuve, DL., Ankley, GT., Brian, JV., Sepulveda, MS., Orlando, EF., Lazorchak, JM., Kostich, M., Armstrong, B., Denslow, ND. and Watanabe, KH., A computational model of the hypothalamic - pituitary - gonadal axis in female fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) exposed to 17a-ethynylestradiol and 17b-trenbolone, BMC Systems Biology (5) : 63 Download publication
(2011) Beresford, N., Brian, JV., Runnalls, TJ., Sumpter, JP. and Jobling, S., Estrogenic activity of tropical fish food can alter baseline vitellogenin concentrations in male fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 30 (5) : 1139- 1145 Download publication
(2009) Brian, JV., Beresford, N., Walker, J., Pojana, G., Fantinati, A., Marcomini, A. and Sumpter, JP., Hypoxia does not influence the response of fish to a mixture of estrogenic chemicals, Environmental Science and Technology 43 (1) : 214- 218 Download publication
(2009) Harris, CA., Brian, JV., Pojana, G., Lamoree, M., Booy, P., Marcomini, A. and Sumpter, JP., The influence of a surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, on the estrogenic response to a mixture of (xeno)estrogens in vitro and in vivo., Aquatic Toxicology 91 (1) : 95- 98
(2008) Singer, AC., Howard, BM., Johnson, AC., Knowles, CJ., Jackman, S., Accinelli, C., Caracciolo, AB., Bernard, I., Bird, S., Boucard, T., Boxall, A., Brian, JV., Cartmell, E., Chubb, C., Churchley, J., Costigan, S., Crane, M., Dempsey, MJ., Dorrington, B., Ellor, B., Fick, J., Holmes, J., Hutchinson, T., Karcher, F., Kelleher, SL., Marsden, P., Noone, G., Nunn, MA., Oxford, J., Rachwal, T., Roberts, N., Roberts, M., Sacca, ML., Sanders, M., Straub, JO., Terry, A., Thomas, D., Toovey, S., Townsend, R., Vouivoulis, N. and Watts, C., Meeting report: Risk assessment of tamiflu use under pandemic conditions, Environmental Health Perspectives 116 (11) : 1563- 1567 Download publication
(2008) Brian, JV., Harris, CA., Runnalls, TJ., Fantinati, A., Pojana, G., Marcomini, A., Booy, P., Lamoree, M., Kortenkamp, A. and Sumpter, JP., Evidence of temperature-dependent effects on the estrogenic response of fish: Implications with regard to climate change, Science of The Total Environment 397 (1-3) : 72- 81 Download publication
(2007) Harris, CA., Routledge, EJ., Schaffner, C., Brian, JV., Giger, W. and Sumpter, JP., Benzotriazole is antiestrogenic in vitro but not in vivo, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 26 (11) : 2367- 2372
(2007) Brian, JV., Harris, CA., Scholze, M., Kortenkamp, A., Booy, P., Lamoree, M., Pojana, G., Jonkers, N., Marcomini, A. and Sumpter, JP., Evidence of estrogenic mixture effects on the reproductive performance of fish, International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 41 (1) : 337- 344 Download publication
(2007) Sumpter, JP. and Brian, JV., Mixtures of chemicals in water: implications of chemical legislation and environmental policy, The Journal of Water Law 18 (2) : 62- 65 Download publication
(2006) Brian, JV., Braithwaite, VA. and Augley, JJ., Endocrine disrupting effects on the nesting behaviour of male three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L, Journal of Fish Biology 68 (6) : 1883- 1890 Download publication
(2006) Brian, JV., Fernandes, T., Ladle, RJ. and Todd, PA., Patterns of morphological and genetic variability in UK populations of the shore crab, Carcinus maenas Linnaeus, 1758 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura), Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 329 (1) : 47- 54 Download publication
(2005) Brian, JV., Harris, CA., Scholze, M., Backhaus, T., Booy, P., Lamoree, M., Pojana, G., Jonkers, N., Runnalls, T., Bonfà, A., Marcomini, A. and Sumpter, JP., Accurate prediction of the response of freshwater fish to a mixture of estrogenic chemicals, Environmental Health Perspectives 113 (6) : 721- 728 Download publication
(2005) Brian, JV., Inter-population variability in the reproductive morphology of the shore crab (Carcinus maenas): evidence of endocrine disruption in a marine crustacean?, Marine Pollution Bulletin 50 (4) : 410- 416 Download publication
