as an undergraduate, I worked with Steve Wickler at Cal Poly pomona on mammalian hibernation.  I became fascinated with what allows these mammals to seemingly suspend their metabolisms and survive conditions that would kill most other mammals.  I went on to the University of Colorado Boulder and received my Ph.d. while working on quiescent embryos of brine shrimp.  I returned to hibernation as a postdoctoral fellow with Sandy Martin at the University of Colorado Health Sciences in Denver.  I arrived at UNLV in 2002.  My laboratory exploits biochemical and molecular approaches to understand what allows some animals to survive in extreme environments.  Visit the Research page for more!  Email: Frank.vanbreukelen@unlv.edu