My research focuses on
human health and adaptation and sits at the
intersection of human physiology, evolutionary biology,
nutritional
sciences, epidemiology,
and the social/behavioral sciences. My research focuses on four main topics:
1) Human
adaptation to environmental stressors such as extreme
cold
2) The influence of economic and cultural change on
health, especially cardiovascular disease and diabetes
3) Human/primate energetics and the evolution of the
human diet
4) The role of chronic psychosocial stress in shaping
health and disease
I am also involved with the World Health
Organization's multi-country Study
on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE), a
longitudinal study of health and well-being in older
adults that focuses on nationally representative
samples in six countries (China, Ghana, India, Mexico,
Russia, and South Africa).
I also direct a human
biology research laboratory that focuses on the
development and application of minimally invasive
techniques (e.g., dried blood spots and saliva) for assessing health and
physiology in population-based research.
Ongoing
Research Projects
Indigenous Siberian Health
and Adaptation Project Since 2001, I have
conducted research in northeastern Siberia as part of
a collaborative research project (The
Indigenous Siberian Health and Adaptation Project)
that includes scientists from Russia and the United
States. I co-direct the project along with Bill
Leonard of Northwestern University. The project
has two major research lines. The first examines
adaptation to the circumpolar environment, with a
focus on evaluating evidence for metabolic adaptation
to cold stress among indigenous Siberians. In short,
this research has tested the hypothesis that human
groups native to the cold have elevated resting
metabolic rates as a result of chronic cold stress.
Our findings to date have supported this conclusion
and we continue to do research along these lines.
Second, our research has focused on investigating the
health effects of economic and social changes on
indigenous Siberians in the post-Soviet period, with
an emphasis on cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We
are investigating the factors, such as dietary change,
altered patterns of physical activity, and levels of
chronic psychological stress, that may contribute to
the increased burden of stroke and heart disease that
has emerged in the past decade. Click here
for the Siberia project website.
The project has received funding from NSF (Office of
Polar Programs), the University of Oregon,
Northwestern University,
the FSRI Institute of Health (Yakutsk, Russia), Sigma
Xi, the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation,
and the Yakut Science Center (Yakutsk, Russia).
Research Team in
Berdygestiakh, Sakha Republic in January 2011
View of Berdygestiakh
(Gorny ulus, Sakha Republic, Russia) in Winter 2011
Bill Leonard measuring basal
metabolic rate (Berdygestiakh, Sakha Republic,
Russia), Summer 2009
Collecting urine samples
for analysis of total energy expenditure using the
doubly labeled water technique
Recent covers of the American Journal of
Human Biology featuring our research
Primary Project Personnel Bill
Leonard, Northwestern University Larissa Tarskaia,
Russian Academy of Sciences and University of Kansas Other Senior Collaborators (Past and
Present) Michael
Crawford, University of Kansas Mark
Sorensen, University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill Sharon
Williams, Purdue University/AAAS
Russian
Collaborators
Scientists from the Yakut Scientific Center (Drs.
Tomsky, Egorova, Maharova, Matveeva, Pinigina, Halyev,
and
Romanova) and the Sakha Institute of Health (Drs.
Krivoshapkin, Klimova, Fedorova, and Baltakhinova)
Undergraduate
Student Involvement
Vimal Balu, University of Oregon
Katie Schweber, University of Oregon
Elizabeth Streeter, University of Oregon Selected Publications Snodgrass
JJ. Health of indigenous circumpolar populations. Annu
Rev Anthropol, in press.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Tarskaia LA, Klimova
TM, Fedorova VI, Baltakhinova ME, Krivoshapkin VG. 2011.
Metabolic adaptation in the Yakut (Sakha). Yakut Medical
Journal 2(34): 11-14 (in Russian).
Cepon TJ, Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Tarskaia LA, Klimova
TM, Fedorova VI, Baltakhinova ME, Krivoshapkin VG. 2011.
Circumpolar adaptation, social change, and the
development of autoimmune thyroid disorders among the
Yakut (Sakha) of Siberia. Am J Hum Biol 23: 703-709.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Tarskaia LA, et al. 2010.
Impaired fasting glucose and the metabolic syndrome
among an indigenous Siberian population. Int J Circumpol
Health 69: 87-98.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Sorensen MV, et al. 2008.
The influence of basal metabolic rate on blood
pressure
among indigenous Siberians. Am J Phys Anthropol 137:
145-155.
Snodgrass JJ, Sorensen MV, Tarskaia LA, Leonard WR.
2007. Adaptive dimensions of health research among
indigenous Siberians. Am J Hum Biol 19: 165-180.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Tarskaia LA, et al. 2005.
Basal metabolic rate in the Yakut (Sakha) of Siberia.
Am J Hum Biol 17: 155-172. Shuar Health and Life
History Project The Shuar
Health and Life History Project is a collaborative
research project that I co-direct with Larry
Sugiyama.
The goal of the Shuar Health and Life History Project is
threefold. First, we are investigating the effects of
market
integration on Shuar health. The project focuses on the
effects of cultural and economic change on growth and
nutritional status among Shuar kids, as well as the
changing pattern of chronic disease prevalence (e.g.,
cardiovascular, metabolic, and skeletal health) among
Shuar adults. Second, we are using a life history
perspective to better understand
the trade-offs between different branches of immune
function in Shuar kids, and to use this information to
better understand how energy is allocated to competing
priorities such as maintenance, growth, and
reproduction. Finally,
we seek to provide health information to participants
and community partners in order to assist in targeting
prevention
and treatment efforts. Research is centered in the
Morona-Santiago region of Ecuador.
This research has been funded by NSF (Physical
Anthropology), the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Leakey
Foundation, the Sasakawa Fund, and the
University of Oregon. In the past, the project has
received funding from NIH (via the UC
Santa Barbara Center for Evolutionary Psychology) and
the Evonuk Foundation.
Upano River
Shuar kids
Melissa Liebert and former
undergraduate Ruby Fried conducting an interview
The Shuar Health and Life
History Research Team in Ecuador in 2008
Felicia
Madimenos performing a bone scan as part of her
dissertation research
Cooking demonstration of
traditional Shuar foods
Recent
American Journal
of Human Biology cover featuring our
research
Ecuadorian
Collaborators
Washington Tiwi, Federacíon Interprovincial de Centros
Shuar
Jose Pozo, Ministerio de Salud Pública del Ecuador Graduate Student Collaborators (Past and
Present) Alese
Colehour, University of Oregon Tiffany
Gandolfo, (MS completed at University of Oregon in
2010) Theresa
Gildner, University of Oregon Julia
Ridgeway-Diaz (MS completed at University of
Oregon in 2011) Terry
Rueckert (MS completed at University of Oregon
in 2011) Heather
Shattuck-Faegre, Harvard University Erica
Squires, University of Oregon Paula
Tallman, Northwestern University Sam
Urlacher, Harvard University
Undergraduate
Student Involvement Ruby
Fried, University of Oregon (now a graduate
student at Northwestern University)
Sierra Thompson, University of Oregon
Heather Shattuck-Faegre (now a graduate student at
Harvard University)
Selected Project Publications Liebert MA, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD,
Madimenos FC, Cepon TJ, and Sugiyama LS. 2013.
Implications of market integration for cardiovascular
and metabolic health among an indigenous Amazonian
Ecuadorian population. Ann Hum Biol 40:
228-242. (link
to article)
McDade TW, Tallman PS, Madimenos FC, Liebert MA, Cepon
TJ, Sugiyama L, and Snodgrass JJ. 2012. Analysis of
variability of high sensitivity C-reactive protein in
lowland Ecuador reveals no evidence of chronic low-grade
inflammation. Am J Hum Biol 24: 675-681.
Madimenos FC,
Snodgrass JJ, Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, and Sugiyama LS. 2012. Reproductive effects
on skeletal health in Shuar women of Amazonian Ecuador:
A life
history perspective. Am J Hum Biol 24: 841-852.
Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD, Liebert MA,
Sugiyama LS. 2011. Physical activity in an indigenous
Ecuadorian forager-horticulturalist population as
measured using accelerometry. Am J Hum Biol 23: 488-497.
Graduate student Melissa
Liebert presenting a poster at a recent
meeting of the Human Biology Association in
Portland, OR.
Blackwell AD, Gurven MD, Sugiyama LS, Madimenos FC,
Liebert MA, Martin MA, Kaplan HS, Snodgrass JJ. 2011.
Evidence for a peak shift in a humoral response to
helminths: Age profiles of IgE in the Shuar of Ecuador,
the Tsimane of Bolivia, and the U.S. NHANES. PLoS
Neglect Trop D.
Madimenos FC, Snodgrass JJ, Blackwell AD, Liebert MA,
Cepon TJ, Sugiyama LS. 2011. Normative calcaneal
quantitative ultrasound data for the indigenous Shuar
and non-Shuar Colonos of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Arch
Osteoporosis 6: 39-49.
Blackwell AD,
Snodgrass JJ, Madimenos FC, Sugiyama LS. 2010. Life
history, immune function, and intestinal helminths:
Trade-offs among immunoglobulin E, C-reactive protein,
and growth in an Amazonian population. Am J Hum Biol 22:
836-848. (cover photo)
Blackwell AD et al. 2008. Growth and market
integration in Amazonia: A comparison of growth
indicators between
Shuar, Shiwiar, and nonindigenous school children. Am
J Hum Biol 21: 161-171.
Stress,
discrimination, and health among Latin American
immigrants in Oregon I am also part of a
collaborative research project that uses biomarkers of
stress to examine the effects of discrimination on
health among Latin American immigrants in Oregon. The
project is a collaborative effort with Charles
Martinez and Heather
McClure of the the Latino Research Team at the
University of Oregon (formerly of the Oregon Social
Learning Center) and the Farmworker Housing
Development Corporation. The project was initiated in
2007 and, with financial support from NIH, Oregon
Social Learning Center, the Center for Latino/a and
Latin American Studies at the University of Oregon,
and my lab, we conducted three waves of pilot data
collection. We analyzed samples from the project in my
lab and are in the process of publishing the results
of the study. We are also writing grants to continue
and expand the research.
Mural
painted
by residents at the Farmworker Housing Development
Corporation
Graduate
Student Collaborators Felicia
Madimenos, University of Oregon Erica
Squires, University of Oregon Undergraduate Student Involvement Keshia Baker, University
of Oregon
Sara Epstein, University of Oregon
Isabella Valderrama, University of Oregon
Selected Publications McClure et al. 2013.
Integrating biomarkers into research with Latino
immigrants in the United States. Adv Anthropol 3:
112-120. (link
to article)
Squires et al. 2012. Diurnal cortisol rhythms among
Latino immigrants in Oregon, USA. J Physiol Anthropol
31: 19.
McClure et al. 2010. Discrimination-related stress,
blood pressure, and immune function among Latin American
immigrants in Oregon. J Biosocial Sci 42: 433-461.
McClure et al. 2010. Discrimination, psychosocial
stress, and health among Latin American immigrants in
Oregon.
Am J Hum Biol 22: 421-423.
Development
of biomarkers for assessing health and physiology in
population-based research My research also
involves the development and validation of new,
minimally invasive techniques for assessing
health and physiology in population-based research.
During my NIA-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship I worked
closely with Thom
McDade and Sharon
Williams to develop new techniques, using ELISA
and Luminex platforms,
that allow researchers to measure different aspects of
health and physiology.
Former undergraduate
Heather Shattuck-Faegre
running assays in my biomarker lab at the Sacred
Heart Medical Center
Main Collaborators Thom
McDade, Northwestern University Sharon
Williams, Purdue University Graduate Student Collaborators Erica
Squires, University of Oregon
Selected Publications McDade TW, Williams
SR, Snodgrass JJ. 2007. What a drop can do: Dried blood
spots as a minimally-invasive
method for integrating biomarkers in population-based
research. Demography 44: 899-925.
Snodgrass JJ, Williams SR, McDade. 2006. Measurement of
human pituitary hormones in dried blood spots by
multiplex immunoassay. Am J Phys Anthropol (Suppl) 42:
168.
Snodgrass JJ. 2006. Viability of capillary blood
collection for use in population-based health research.
Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the Population
Association of America, Los Angeles, CA.
The Study on Global Ageing and Adult
Health (SAGE) Since 2005, I have
been an investigator on the World Health Organization's
Study
on
global AGEing and adult health (SAGE). SAGE is a
multi-wave panel survey of age-related changes in health
and well-being, with nationally representative
population surveys in six countries (China, Russia, South
Africa, Mexico, Ghana, and India).SAGE is directed by PI
Somnath Chatterji and co-PI Paul Kowal.
The study is currently funded by NIH NIA. My role began as a
consultant on the biomarker component of the study. In
that capacity, I collaborated with Sharon
Williams of Purdue University to train WHO
participating scientists, coordinate biomarker
collection, and standardize the laboratory protocols for
the six countries participating in the study. My
role on the project has expanded to a key investigator
and I am currently analyzing data from Wave 1 data and
preparing manuscripts for publication.
At a lab training in
Durban, South Africa as part of the WHO SAGE project
Undergraduate
Student Involvement
Lauren Hawkins, University of Oregon
Selected Publications Kowal P, Chatterji S, Naidoo N,
Biritwum R, Wu F, Lopez Ridaura R, Maximova T,
Arokiasamy P, Phaswana-Mafuya N, Williams SR,
Snodgrass JJ, Minicuci N, D’Este C, Boerma JT. 2012.
Cohort profile: The WHO Study on global AGEing and
adult health (SAGE). Int J Epidemiol, in press.
Liebert MA, Cepon TJ, Madimenos FC, Mathur A,
Williams SR, Naidoo N, Snodgrass JJ. Self-reported
physical activity and measured energy expenditure using
accelerometers: Results of a SAGE sub-study in India.
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Population
Association of America, San Francisco, CA.
Human/primate
energetics and the evolution of the human diet Since 1998, I have
collaborated with Bill Leonard and Marcia Robertson on
research that addresses the evolution
of the human diet. Some of the issues we have
addressed in this research include the evolution of
early hominid
diets, brain evolution in the genus Homo, early primate ecology
and energetics, and Neandertal energetics. Click here for a recent
article from Science on the evolution of the human diet,
which discusses some of my research. Click here
for a recent article in Nature, from an issue focused on
the emerging field of nutrigenomics, that includes some
quotes from me on the evolution of the human diet. I've
also started several other collaborations related to
human energetics and the evolution of the human diet,
including with Susan Antón and Magda Muchlinski.
With
Leslie Aiello and Jonathan Wells at the Wenner-Gren
Conference
"Human Biology and the Origins of Homo" in
Sintra, Portugal (March 2011)
Participants
at the Wenner-Gren Conference
"Human Biology and the Origins of Homo" in
Sintra, Portugal (March 2011)
Selected Publications Antón SC and Snodgrass JJ. 2012.
Origin and evolution of genus Homo: A new perspective. Curr
Anthropol 53 (Supplement 6): S479-S496. (link
to article)
Snodgrass JJ. 2012.
Human energetics. In: Stinson et al. (eds.) Human Biology: An
Evolutionary and Biocultural Approach (2nd Edition).
New York: Wiley, pp. 327-386. (link
to chapter)
Muchlinski MN,
Snodgrass JJ, and Terranova CJ. 2012. Muscle mass
scaling in primates: An energetic and ecological
perspective. Am J Primatol. (link
to article)
Leonard WR, Snodgrass
JJ, Robertson ML. 2012. Comparative and evolutionary
perspectives on human brain growth. In: Cameron and
Bogin (eds.) Human
Growth and Development (2nd Edition). New York:
Elsevier, pp. 397-414.
Leonard WR, Robertson ML, Snodgrass JJ. 2010. What did
humans evolve to eat? Metabolic implications of major
trends in hominid evolution. In: Moffat and Prowse
(eds.) Human Diet and
Nutrition in Biocultural Perspective: Past Meets
Present. New York: Berghahn Books.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Robertson ML. 2009. The
energetics of encephalization in early hominids. In:
JJ Hublin
& M Richards (eds.) Evolution
of Hominid Diets: Integrating Approaches to the Study
of Palaeolithic
Subsistence.
Dordrecht, Springer.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR. 2009. Neandertal energetics
revisited: Insights into population dynamics and life
history evolution. PaleoAnthropology 2009: 220-237.
Snodgrass JJ, Leonard WR, Robertson ML. 2007. Primate
bioenergetics: An evolutionary perspective. In: M Ravosa
& M Dagosto (eds.) Primate Origins: Adaptations and Evolution.
New York, Springer, pp. 703-737.
Leonard WR, Snodgrass JJ, Robertson ML. 2007. Effects of
brain evolution on human nutrition and metabolism.
Annu Rev Nutr 27: 311-327.
Leonard WR, Robertson ML, Snodgrass JJ, Kuzawa CW. 2003.
Metabolic correlates of hominid brain expansion.
Comp Biochem Physiol 136A: 5-15.
