Joseph P. Jarvis, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Genetics School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania 422 Clinical Research Building 415 Curie Blvd Philadelphia, PA 19104-6145 215-746-2322 jarvisj@mail.med.upenn.edu

Research Interests Education Academic Positions Grants and Scholarships Honors and Awards Teaching Assistantships and Tutoring Peer Reviewed Publications Manuscripts in Preparation Conference Presentations

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in complex genetic architectures and their consequences for both clinical practice and the evolutionary process. As such the primary focus of my research is estimating the number of loci involved in trait variation, the number of alleles per locus, the size of their additive effects, their patterns of dominance, epistasis and pleiotropy as well as their interactions with non-genetic factors. I am particularly interested in trait variation due to pair-wise epistatic interactions among unlinked loci. My work with Dr. Sarah Tishkoff involves extending the techniques used in my thesis work on the genetics of fatpad weight in mice to genetically and phenotypically diverse human populations in Africa. Utilizing the unique dataset collected by the Tishkoff lab over the last decade, I am applying genome-wide mapping techniques to investigate the complex genetic architectures underlying adult height variation, basal glucose level and a number of other phenotypes of interest.

List of Research Interests:

• The Genetic Architecture of Complex Traits
• Interactions Between Genetic Drift and Epistasis
• Genetic and Phenotypic Variation in Africa
• Quantitative Methods\Theory
• Mouse Models of Human Disease

Education

Academic Positions

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  2008 - Present.  Research under the direction of Dr. Sarah Tishkoff.

Graduate Researcher and Doctoral Candidate, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.  2002-2008. Doctoral thesis and other research under the direction of Dr. James M. Cheverud.

Grants and Scholarships

• Travel Grant ($450).  9^th Annual Plant Sciences Institute Symposium. Epistasis: Predicting Phenotypes and Evolutionary Trajectories.  2007
• National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant ($11,714).  “A Measured Genotype Examination of Dominance and Epistasis Across a Bottleneck.”  2006.
• Attendance Scholarship ($500).  19^th International Mammalian Genome Conference.  2005.

Honors and Awards

• Second place poster presentation. 26^th Annual Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference.  2006.  Epistasis and Heritable Genetic Variance Across an Experimental Bottleneck: A Measured Genotype Approach.

Teaching Assistantships and Tutoring

• Head TA; Bio 2970 (Undergraduate Genetics Course).  Washington University in St. Louis.  Fall 2007.  Course Master: Allan Larson.
• Discussion Section Facilitator/Course Lecturer, Bio 3501 (Undergraduate Evolution Course).  Washington University in St. Louis.  Fall 2006.  Course Master: Ken Olsen.
• Discussion Section Facilitator/Course Lecturer, Bio 3501 (Undergraduate Evolution Course).  Washington University in St. Louis.  Fall 2005.  Course Master: Barbara Schaal.
• Discussion Section Facilitator, Bio 3050/3059 (Undergraduate Physiology).  Washington University in St. Louis.  Fall 2005.  Course Master: Paul Stein.
• Undergraduate Laboratory TA, Bios 155L, Bios 156L (General Biology Undergraduate Laboratory).  University of Notre Dame.  1999, 2001.
• First Year of Studies Tutor.  University of Notre Dame.  1999-2000.

Peer Reviewed Publications

• Reich, Michael S., Joseph P. Jarvis, Matthew J. Silva, James M. Cheverud  (2008)  Genetic relationships between obesity and osteoporosis in LGXSM recombinant inbred mice.  Genetics Research.  90:433-444.
• Kraja Aldi T., Michael A. Province, Pinchia Huang, Joseph P. Jarvis, Treva Rice, James M. Cheverud, D. C. Rao (2008)  Trends in Metabolic Syndrome and Gene Networks in Human and Rodent Models.  Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets.  8(3):198-207.
• Fawcett, G. L., C. C. Roseman, J. P. Jarvis, B. Wang, J. M. Cheverud (2008)  Genetic architecture of adiposity and organ weights using combined generation QTL analysis.  Obesity 16(8):1861-1868.
• Kenney-Hunt, J. P., Bing Wang, Elizabeth A. Norgard, Gloria Fawcett, Doug Falk, L. Susan Pletsher, Joseph P. Jarvis, Charles Roseman, Jason Wolf, and James M. Cheverud (2008)  Pleiotropic patterns of quantitative trait loci for 70 murine skeletal traits.  Genetics. 178:2275-2288.
• Fenske, T. S., C McMahon, D. Edwin, J. P. Jarvis, J. M. Cheverud, M. Minn, V. Mathews, M A. Bogue, M. A. Province, H. L. McLeod, and T. A. Graubert (2006)  Identification of candidate alkylator-induced cancer susceptibility by whole genome scanning in mice.  Cancer Research 66(10):5029-5038.
• Jarvis, J. P., Jane Kenney-Hunt, Thomas H. Ehrich, L. Susan Pletscher, Clay F. Semenkovich, and James M. Cheverud (2005)  Materal genotype affects adult offspring lipid, obesity, and diabetes phenotypes in LGXSM recombinant inbred strains.  Journal of Lipid Research. 46:1692-1702.

Manuscripts in Preparation

• Jarvis, Joseph P. and James M. Cheverud (2009)  The effects of quantitative trait locus - marker linkage on measures of epistasis.
• Jarvis, Joseph P. and James M. Cheverud (2009)  Evolutionary dynamics of measured genotypic values during simulated serial bottlenecks.
• Jarvis, Joseph P., Gloria Fawcett, James M. Cheverud (2009)  Fine-mapping a QTL network for fatpad weight in mice. 
• Jarvis, Joseph P. and James M. Cheverud (2009)  Epistasis, heritable genetic variance and population bottlenecks: a locus by locus approach.
• Tourjee, Stephen, Joseph P. Jarvis, Timothy A. Graubert, James M. Cheverud (2009)  Quantitative phenotypic variation in complete blood cell counts in the LGXSM RI strain panel.
• 'Cropp, Susan N., Joseph P. Jarvis, Ty T. Vaughn, L. Susan Pletscher, Kelly King-Ellison, Emily Adams-Hunt, Christoph Erickson, James M. Cheverud (2009)  The effect of a population bottleneck on the evolution of genetic variance/covariance structure.

Conference Presentations

• Kraja, Aldi, T., Michael A. Province, Pinchia Huang, Joseph P. Jarvis, Treva Rice, James M. Cheverud, D. C. Rao (2007) The evolution of diagnosis and prevalence of metabolic syndrome.  The Endocrinology Society Annual Meeting 2007.
• Reich, M. S., J. P. Jarvis, J. M. Cheverud, M. J. Silva  (2007) Genetic relationship between obesity and osteoporosis in mice.  North American Association for the Study of Obesity Meeting 2007.
  Also: 17^th Scientific Meeting of the International Bone and Mineral Society.  2007.
• Jarvis, J. P., Ty T. Vaughn, L. Susan Pletscher, and James M. Cheverud (2006) Epistasis and heritable genetic variance across an experimental population bottleneck.  Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference 2006.
• Jarvis, J. P., James M. Cheverud (2006) Patterns and evolutionary consequences of epistasis for body composition in mice.  Society for the Study of Evolution Meetings 2006. 
• Jarvis, J. P., J. Kenney-Hunt, T. H. Ehrich, L. S. Pletscher, C. F. Semenkovich, J. M. Cheverud (2005) Maternal genotype affects adult offspring lipid, obesity and diabetes phenotypes in LGXSM recombinant inbred strains.  International Mammalian Genome Conference 2005. 

Professional Service

• Session Moderator.  Society for the Study of Evolution Meeting 2006.  Sunday, June 25^th, 2006.  SAC-305.  Quantitative Genetics.

Other Presentations

• Biomedical research apprenticeship program presentation (BioMedRap).  Summer 2007.  Epistasis and Biomedical Research.  Presentation co-ordinator: John S. K. Kauwe.
• Biomedical research apprenticeship program presentation.  Summer 2006.  Putting genes in context, introduction to the physiology and quantitative genetics of populations.  Presentation co-ordinator: John S. K. Kauwe.
• Graduate Student Seminar, University of Notre Dame.  Jarvis, J. P. 3-28-2006.  Dissecting Diseases: Finding Genes Involved in Obesity and Diabetes.
• Graduate Student Seminar, Washington University in St. Louis.  Jarvis, J. P.  Fall 2005.  Maternal Effects on Adult Phenotypes.
• Biomedical research apprenticeship program presentation.  Summer 2005.  Introduction to the Quantitative Genetic approach.  Presentation co-ordinator John S. K. Kauwe.

Mentoring Experience

• Student Advisor for Stephen Tourjee 2008.  The Genetics of Complete Blood Cell Count (CBC) Component Traits in LG/J and SM/J Mice, Their Cross and the LGXSM RI Strain Panel. Washington University in St. Louis Department of Biology Senior Honors Thesis.
• Young Scientists Student Mentor for Hattie Hiler.  Summer 2006.
• Student Advisor for Michael Reich 2006.  The Genetic Relationships between Obesity and Osteoporosis.  Washington University in St. Louis Department of Anthropology Senior Honors Thesis.