Amphibian Attraction

Alumnus researcher's work furthers understanding of human, animal diseases

By Melissa Crytzer Fry

It could be the scientist in his blood, or simply his love of viruses, but James Jancovich couldn't resist preserving his pet frog after it collapsed.

His goal, after securing the amphibian in a Ziploc® and placing it in the freezer, was to bring it to work -- the ASU lab where he studies viruses every day as a research scientist and molecular biology Ph.D. candidate.

Despite his best intentions to check the animal for viruses, Jancovich was forced to push his frog to the back of the freezer. The virus-infected salamanders at the lab demanded his full attention, instead, especially given their role in understanding the current pandemic of worldwide amphibian decline.

"I was always curious about amphibians, but never thought I'd be working with them for 10 years," says Jancovich of the same tadpoles and frogs that once sailed from his slingshot when he was a boy growing up in Southern California.

"I wasn't too nice to amphibians for the longest time, but I obviously think they're intriguing now."

Amphibians are considered one of the scientific world's best indicators of disease and environmental change because they interact directly with the elements, spending part of their lives above water and part below, both breathing air and absorbing water. Their sensitivities to environmental change could hold the key to the causes of declines in other animals.

Widespread amphibian die-offs also may hold the key to emerging infectious diseases in humans. HIV, SARS, Hepatitis C, West Nile virus... these diseases began as pathogens that originated in nonhuman animals, but jumped to humans. Jancovich's research has shown that some amphibian viruses also have jumped -- from frogs to fish to salamanders.

While the study of amphibian viruses could lead to groundbreaking knowledge about disease in humans, for Jancovich, disease study also holds personal meaning.

"My mom died of breast cancer," says Jancovich. "In fact, she's why I went into science -- because of that curiosity. I went into my studies trying to understand more about science and what was going on."

Jancovich, now 34, admits that a scientific understanding of disease didn't really help explain the loss he experienced at age 17. What it did do, though, was ignite a spark of interest that has benefited a worldwide research community.

As a graduate biology student at ASU, Jancovich hit the scientific jackpot in 1997, discovering a virus responsible for a great number of amphibian die-offs, called ATV or the Ambystoma tigrinum virus.

"James took up research on this virus with a passion that has already led to 10 publications," says research professor Elizabeth Davidson, who worked closely with Jancovich in her lab. "He spent 2-1/2 years unraveling the full sequence of the salamander virus, and is currently exploring the molecular biology and evolution of this virus. He is an independent, imaginative, mature scientist."

Jancovich's sequencing (gene mapping) work allows researchers worldwide to identify the specific genes within the virus and begin to understand their functions. It also provides clues to why some diseases jump from wildlife to humans -- as seen in recent outbreaks of the deadly avian flu that catapulted from poultry to humans.

The self-proclaimed lab rat is quick to recognize his team of ASU mentors, including Davidson, and professors Jim Collins and Bert Jacobs, for the lab opportunities they presented. "Without their support, I wouldn't be where I am," says Jancovich. He also credits a rather unlikely ASU team for his success: the baseball team.

"I went to a summer research program for undergrads at the University of Texas toward the end of my undergraduate degree in microbiology at ASU," explains Jancovich. "Two of us were interested in viruses, but I got picked for the virus lab because one of the researchers in the lab was a big baseball fan -- and ASU had a good baseball team that year."

The camp experience, working in the virology field and with electron microscopy, helped Jancovich land a technician job with Davidson, where he ultimately discovered ATV.

"I definitely didn't come out of the womb a scientist," says Jancovich. After his mother's illness, Jancovich worked for eight years at a California avocado ranch, paying for community college. The physical labor, along with the educational funding his mother arranged through her retirement fund, propelled Jancovich toward science. Aside from that, it came easily to him. A glimpse of bacteria under a microscope at Moorpark Community College, however, capped Jancovich's interest in biology.

Jancovich's high school friends may disagree with his assessment that science wasn't always in his blood. Even though he focused more on basketball and football as a teen, one of his high school teammates pegged him as the mad scientist years before he pursued his education. "I didn't see it then. But it kind of fits me now -- the beard and the hair, the long hours in the lab," laughs Jancovich.

He sometimes spends 14 hours a day in the lab, driven by the desire to discover. "I want to show progress to my colleagues and everyone else," Jancovich explains. "You get some results that are pretty wild or you see a virus under a microscope that's unexplainable." Jancovich admits that such enthusiasm is tempered with an equal dose of patience, as months can sometimes pass without significant findings. "Because I'm working with biological systems, I know I have to wait until the biology catches up with my ambitions."

Outside the lab, however, Jancovich is uninhibited. Most recently he spent time in England and Mexico, visiting scientists he had met at conferences he attended around the world. He's also a fan of camping and spends a weekend each month hiking Arizona's Mogollon Rim with friends -- incidentally, the same area where he collected infected salamanders as an undergraduate student, and a favorite vacation spot with his grandparents when he was a child.

As Jancovich nears the end of his Ph.D. program, he keeps an open mind. Although his world has been surrounded by amphibians for the past decade, he's not sure what research path he will pursue. Like his mom and dad -- both elementary school teachers -- he loves teaching and has worked with ASU students for three years, assisting them with their classes in human anatomy, general biology and molecular biology.

But he also admits that his affinity for viruses is strong. "I love viruses just because of their complexity." Jancovich says. "You can do a number of things, from vaccines to treatments to gene delivery."

And while he may not have learned the specific virus that afflicted his pet frog, he has gained much more ... an open-minded, patient approach to research.

Melissa Crytzer Fry is a Phoenix-based freelance writer.

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Photo: Dave Tevis

James Jancovich uses research with salamanders to help understand emerging diseases in humans, such as HIV, SARS, Hepatitis C, or West Nile virus.