Summary:
Dr. Krause earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology at Sonoma State University in 2007. He did his senior thesis with Dr. Daniel E. Crocker investigating the hormonal regulation of sodium balance in lactating and fasting elephant seals. In 2008, Dr. Krause joined the laboratory of John C. Wingfield at the University of California, Davis, and focused on the endocrine regulation of stress and reproduction in songbirds. After completing his Ph.D. he continued as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. John C. Wingfield for one year until a collaborative grant with Dr. Simone L. Meddle, at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, was funded in 2016. Between 2016 and 2018, Dr. Krause split his time between the University of California, Davis, and the Roslin Institute studying seasonal changes in gene expression associated with stress and reproduction. Dr. Krause was hired by the University of Nevada, Reno, Biology Department, in 2018 as a teaching assistant professor. Dr. Krause enjoys teaching using the dry erase board. He remains active in research and has several ongoing collaborations.
Research interests:
Dr. Krause is classically trained as a physiologist although his interests have broadened over his career to include ecology and behavior. He is particularly interested in how organisms integrate environmental information to control the expression and progression through life history stages (ie migration, breeding, molt, etc). As a field biologist working in California and Alaska, he has come to appreciate that no discipline within biology it is impossible to separate physiology from ecology and behavior. As an endocrinologist, he is particularly interested in how physiology and behavior are controlled through endocrine signaling mechanisms. Dr. Krause's Ph.D. and postdoctoral research focused on the regulation of stress and reproduction in White-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) and Lapland longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus). Birds, as with many other species across a broad range of taxa, use the endocrine system to appropriately time reproduction while dealing with environmental challenges (predation, storms, food shortages, etc). The importance of the interplay between these two systems is becoming more evident as animals deal with a changing environment either through climate change or encroachment by urbanization. Seasonally breeding animals are under a strong selective pressure to breed at the appropriate time of year to ensure high fecundity. This has resulted in selection and utilization of key environmental signals, such as photoperiod, to control endocrine signaling cascades for various physiological processes including reproduction. However, environmental stressors can impair the reproductive axis through the secretion of the stress hormone corticosterone. Dr. Krause's Ph.D. and postdoctoral research have focused on the regulation of stress and reproduction by investigating plasma levels of hormone and tissue expression of receptors and steroid metabolizing enzymes.