Honors College Alumna Becky Trubitt Publishes Honors Thesis Research

Courtesy of Becky Trubitt

Mentor Christian Tipsmark congratulates Becky Trubitt at the Fulbright Honors Program graduation ceremony last May.

Becky Trubitt, a 2014 honors graduate of the University of Arkansas, created a model of a fish gill to verify that it can be used to test gill physiology. She was recently listed as a first author for an article published in the international journal Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology.

The article, "Transepithelial resistance and claudin expression in trout RTgill-W1 cell line: Effects of osmoregulatory hormones," expands on Trubitt's honors thesis, which was directed by Christian Tipsmark, assistant professor of biological sciences in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. 

Trubitt and Tipsmark used immortal cells (cells that continue to multiply outside of the organism) derived from a trout gill. They then formatted an experiment to see if the cell line could be used as a model for a true fish gill. The research verified that the cell line responded properly to regulatory hormones and was a good model. The cell line also could prove useful in studying the general function of the epithelium, whether it is in the human intestine, alveolar lung surfaces, or kidney tubules, or on the fish gill. 

 "The actual gill is such a complicated organ," Trubitt said. "Now that we've established that we have good science and a paper saying that this model is valid, we can go on and use it as a tool, or some other lab could use it as a tool."

Trubitt and Tipsmark developed the thesis topic with an eye towards future publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

" I wrote it in the style of the journal we wanted to submit it to," Trubitt said.

Trubitt is the first of Tipsmark's students at the University of Arkansas to be listed as a first author in a journal. He is listed as a corresponding author. Other authors include Brett Rabeneck, Joanna Bujak and Maryline Bossus from the U of A Department of Biological Sciences, and Steffen Madsen, a visiting professor from the University of Southern Denmark. Trubitt's research was supported by two Statewide Undergraduate Research Fellowship grants.

"When Becky was in the lab, she was always very conscientious and ready to put in the extra effort, and that's important," Tipsmark said.  "It takes significant and consistent effort to produce a scientific work for publication, because we need to make sure that it is truly reproducible."

Trubitt took a seasonal position with the Fish and Wildlife Service after graduation and is now inspired to shift her studies from physiology to bat biology and conservation.

"It's not the world's most popular field, but it's growing," Trubitt said.

Between the White Nose disease and bats being caught in turbines at wind farms, the questions and problems are vast.

"It's not a great time to be a bat, but it is a great time to be a bat researcher."