Education
Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nebraska Medical Center,
1999
Dissertation: "Estrogen induced pituitary tumor development in Rattus norvegicus: modulation by environmental and genetic factors."
Research Summary: Study of the physiological, genetic and hormonal changes of the rat pituitary gland
in response to prolonged estrogen exposure as a model for estrogen-dependent cancers.
The efficacy of caloric restriction to protect against estrogen-induced tumor development
was characterized in five rat strains. Following this, rat strains were selectively
inbred to maximize tumor growth traits (congenic strains) and the specific regions
of chromosomes (quantitative trait loci) containing genes that cumulatively confer
estrogen-dependent pituitary and breast growth were identified.
B.S., Biology, University of Nebraska, 1994
Research
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Publications
Journals
1. Spady, T.J., H.J. Harlow, G.M. Butterstein and B.S. Durrant. 2009. Leptin as a surrogate indicator
of body fat in the American black bear (Ursus americanus). Ursus 20:120-130.
2. Spady, T.J., D.G. Lindburg and B.S. Durrant. 2007. Evolution of reproductive seasonality in
bears. Mammal Review 37:21-53.
3. Durrant, B.S., N. Ravida, T.J. Spady and A. Cheng. 2006. New technologies for the study of carnivore reproduction. Theriogenology 66:1729-1736.
4. Shull, J.D., C.M. Lachel, T.E. Strecker, T.J. Spady, M. Tochacek, K.L. Pennington, C.R. Murrin, J.L. Meza, B.S. Schaffer, L.A. Flood
and K.A. Gould. 2006. Genetic bases of renal agenesis in the ACI rat: mapping of Renag-1 to chromosome 14. Mammalian Genome 17:751-759.
5. Strecker, T.E., T.J. Spady, B.S. Schaffer, K.A. Gould, A.E. Kaufman, F. Shen, M.T. McLaughlin, K.L. Pennington,
J.L. Meza and J.D. Shull. 2005. Genetic bases of estrogen-induced pituitary tumorigenesis:
identification of genetic loci determining estrogen-induced pituitary growth in reciprocal
crosses between the ACI and Copenhagen rat strains. Genetics 169:2189-2197.
6. Spady, T.J., R. Shayya, V.G. Thackray, L. Ehrensberger, J.M. Bailey and P.L. Mellon. 2004.
Androgen regulates FSHb gene expression in an activin-dependent manner in immortalized
gonadotropes. Molecular Endocrinology18:925-940.
7. Pernasetti, F., T.J. Spady, S.B. Hall, S.B. Rosenberg, M.L. Givens, S. Anderson, M. Paulus, W.L. Miller and
P.L. Mellon. 2003. Pituitary tumorigenesis targeted by the ovine FSHb subunit gene
regulatory region in transgenic mice. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 203:169-183.
8. Shull, J.D., K.L. Pennington, T.M. Reindl, M.C. Snyder, T.E. Strecker, T.J. Spady, M. Tochacek and R.D. McComb. 2001. Susceptibility to estrogen-induced mammary
cancer segregates as an incompletely dominant phenotype in reciprocal crosses between
the ACI and Copenhagen rat strains. Endocrinology 142:5124-5130.
9. Spady, T.J., R.D. McComb and J.D. Shull. 1999. Estrogen action in the regulation of cell proliferation,
cell survival, and tumorigenesis in the rat anterior pituitary gland. Endocrine 11:217-233.
10. Spady, T.J., K.L. Pennington, R.D. McComb, D.F. Birt and J.D. Shull. 1999. Estrogen induced
pituitary tumor development in the ACI rat is not inhibited by dietary energy restriction. Molecular Carcinogenesis 26:239-253.
11. Spady, T.J., K.L. Pennington, R.D. McComb and J.D. Shull. 1999. Genetic bases of estrogen-induced
pituitary growth in an intercross between the ACI and Copenhagen rat strains: dominant
Mendelian inheritance of the ACI phenotype. Endocrinology 140:2828-2835.
12. Spady, T.J., D.M.E. Harvell, A.M. Lemus-Wilson, T.E. Strecker, K.L. Pennington, E.A. VanderWoude,
D.F. Birt, R.D. McComb and J.D. Shull. 1999. Modulation of estrogen action in pituitary
and mammary glands by dietary energy consumption. Journal of Nutrition 129:587S-590S.
13. Shull, J.D., D.F. Birt, R.D. McComb, T.J. Spady, K.L. Pennington and C.M. Shaw-Bruha. 1998. Estrogen induction of prolactin producing
pituitary tumors in the Fischer 344 rat: modulation by dietary energy, but not protein,
consumption. Molecular Carcinogenesis 23:96-105.
14. Spady, T.J., A.M. Lemus-Wilson, K.L. Pennington, D.J. Blackwood, T.M. Paschall, D.F. Birt, R.D.
McComb and J.D. Shull. 1998. Dietary energy restriction abolishes development of
prolactin producing pituitary tumors in Fischer 344 rats treated with 17b-estradiol. Molecular Carcinogenesis 23:86-95.
15. Spady, T.J., D.M.E. Harvell, M.C. Snyder, K.L. Pennington, R.D. McComb and J.D. Shull. 1998.
Estrogen-induced tumorigenesis in the Copenhagen rat: disparate susceptibilities to
development of prolactin-producing pituitary tumors and mammary carcinomas. Cancer Letters 124:95-103.
16. Shull, J.D., T.J. Spady, M.C. Snyder, S.L. Johansson and K.L. Pennington. 1997. Ovary intact, but not ovariectomized,
female ACI rats treated with 17b-estradiol rapidly develop mammary carcinoma. Carcinogenesis18:1595-1601.
Book Chapters
1. Harvell, D.M.E., T.J. Spady, T.E. Strecker, A. Lemus-Wilson, K.L. Pennington, F. Shen, R.D. McComb and J.D. Shull.
Dietary energy restriction inhibits estrogen induced pituitary tumorigenesis in a
rat strain specific manner. In: Hormonal Carcinogenesis, vol.3, Springer-Verlag, 1999.
2. Tochacek, M., E.A. VanderWoude, T.J. Spady, D.M.E. Harvell, M.C. Snyder, K.L. Pennington, T.M. Reindl and J.D. Shull. The ACI
rat as a genetically defined animal model for the study of estrogen induced mammary
cancers. In: Hormonal Carcinogenesis, vol.3, Springer-Verlag, 1999.
Courses
Courses currently being taught at CSUSM:
- BIOL 212 - Evolution
- BIOL 327 - Biology of Human Reproduction
- BIOL 375 - Endocrinology
- BIOL 380/380L - Comparative Animal Behavior and Lab
- BIOL 411/411L - Animal Reproductive Physiology and Lab
- BIOL 563 - Seminar in Physiology
Other Teaching
Guest Lectures
- Conservation Biology 339: CSUSM, Spring 2008.
- Behavioral Biology 430: Point Loma Nazarene College, Fall 2007
- Biology 197/Ornithology: Palomar College, Spring 2006
- General Biology 100: Palomar College, Spring & Fall 2005
- AP Biology: Steele Canyon High School, Spring 2003-2008