Assistant Marine

CHRISTIANA WITTMAACK

Department of Environmental Toxicology, the Institute of Environmental and Human Health, Texas Tech University 530-***-**** **********.*********@***.*** EDUCATION

Ph.D. Environmental Toxicology Expected Graduation 2020 Texas Tech University, Department of Environmental Toxicology Honors Society: Gamma Beta Phi

Doctoral Dissertation: Cytotoxicity of Organic Contaminants in the Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) and Sex and Steroid Hormone Analysis in Small Cetacean Blubber Biopsy Samples using LC-MS/MS Focus: Marine mammal toxicology, anthropogenic impacts, conservation, endocrinology M.S. Coastal Zone Management 2010-2014

Nova Southeastern University (NSU), Oceanographic Center Honors Society: Delta Epsilon Iota

Thesis: Establishing Behavioral Diagnostic Criteria for Domoic Acid Intoxication in Z. californianus Focus: Marine mammalogy, anthropogenic impacts, conservation, and policy B.S. Psychology 2005-2010

University of Phoenix

Honors

Focus: Behavior, cognition, development, marine mammalogy PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Texas Tech University, Department of Environmental Toxicology, the Institute of Environmental and Human Health, Lubbock TX 2015-Present

Research Assistant

Primary mammalian cell culture

MTT and LDH cytotoxicity assay

Steroid hormone extraction from tissue

LC-MS analysis

Marine mammal tissue importation and exportation

Report, grant, and permit writing

Oversee and train interns both undergraduate and graduate

Create and grade homework and exams and serve as TA. CHRISTIANA WITTMAACK PAGE 2

Literature review to identify knowledge gaps in toxicological marine mammal research

Assess impact of organic contaminants, including crude oil, on gray whale and sea turtle cell cultures

Species: Gray whale, fin whale, beluga, loggerhead sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, green sea turtle, and kemp ridley’s sea turtle

The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito CA 2009-2015

Marine Mammal Care Volunteer

Animal husbandry

Assistance with medical, surgical, anesthesia, radiological, and necropsy procedures

Subcutaneous and intramuscular injections, blood collection through heart stick, medication administration

Species: California sea lion, northern elephant seal, harbor seal, northern fur seal, and Guadalupe fur seal

Moss Landing Marine, Laboratories Moss Landing CA 2010-2011 Vertebrate ecology lab intern (served double term)

Assisted graduate students with field work and data entry

Harbor seal health

Animal capture and restraint

Assistance with blood, fecal, vaginal fluid, fur, blubber, vibrissa, and tear sample collection

Developed breath rate monitoring system for animal safety

Marine mammal and sea bird decomposition

Identification of carcasses and decomposition state along with tagging

Northern Fulmar diet

Squid beak sample organization

Miscellaneous duties

Database creation for lecture use and historical upkeep of level A stranding database CHRISTIANA WITTMAACK PAGE 3

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and University of Southern Mississippi, Vallejo, CA Jan 2009-Feb2009 Research assistant volunteer

Assisted Ph.D. student with bottlenose dolphin cognition research

Acoustic and video equipment setup and tear down MEMBERSHIPS

Society for Marine Mammalogy 2007-Present

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 2018-Present PUBLICATIONS

Mary Hayden, David Klein, Seenivasan Subbiah, Christiana Wittmaack, Véronique Lesage, Yves Morin, Jorge Urbán Ramírez, Carlos Lopez Montalvo, John Bickham and Céline Godard-Codding. Reproductive and Stress Steroid Hormone Analysis in Cetacean Blubber by Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry. 2018. The International Whaling Commission, The Red House, 135 Station Road, Impington, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB24 9NP, United Kingdom. Wittmaack, C., Lahvis, G. P., Keith, E. O. and Self-Sullivan, C. (2015), Diagnosing domoic acid toxicosis in the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) using behavioral criteria: A novel approach. Zoo Biol., 34: 314–320. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21217

In Progress

Christiana Wittmaack and Céline A.J. Godard-Codding. A review of cetacean cell culture: methodologies, research applications, and future directions. In progress. Christiana Wittmaack, Jorge Urbán R., Daniela Bernot Simon, Sergio Martínez-Aguilar, Seenivasan Subbiah, Naveen Kumar, Barbie Halaska, Pádraig J. Duignan, and Céline A.J. Godard-Codding. Reproductive and stress hormone analysis in small whale blubber samples using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. In progress.

Jocylin D. Pierro, Angela L. Peace, Christiana S. Wittmaack, Benjamin M Higgins, and Céline A.J. Godard-Codding. Modeling the effects of benzo[a]pyrene, polychlorinated biphenyls 77, and perfluorooctanoic acid on the survival of loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle cell populations. In progress. Jocylin D. Pierro, Christiana Wittmaack, Joseph Flanagan, Benjamin M. Higgins, and Céline A.J. Godard- Codding. Cytotoxicity of organic contaminants in primary and immortalized fibroblast cell cultures derived from laparoscopy-sourced liver and ovary sea turtle biopsies. In progress. Jocylin D. Pierro, Christiana Wittmaack, James G. Surles, Benjamin M. Higgins, and Céline A.J. Godard- Codding. In vitro toxicity of benzo[a]pyrene, polychlorinated biphenyl 77, and perfluorooctanoic acid in loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle primary skin fibroblasts. In progress. CHRISTIANA WITTMAACK PAGE 4

Daniela Bernot Simon, Jorge Urbán-Ramírez, Lorena Viloria-Gómora, Christiana Wittmaack, Naveen Kumar, and Céline Godard-Codding. Reproductive seasonality of the fin whale in the Gulf of California: a physiological and observational approach. In progress. PRESENTATIONS

Platform

Wittmaack, et al. (2019). World Marine Mammal Conference, Endocrinology Workshop, Barcelona Spain Wittmaack and Godard-Codding, (2017). Society for Marine Mammalogy, Halifax Canada Poster

Wittmaack, et al. (2019). World Marine Mammal Conference, Barcelona Spain Godard Codding, Wittmaack, et al. (2019). World Marine Mammal Conference, Barcelona Spain Wittmaack, et al. (2018). Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Sacramento, California Godard Codding and Wittmaack, (2017). Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Wittmaack, et al. (2015). Society for Marine Mammalogy, San Francisco, California Wittmaack, et al. (2015). International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine, Chicago, Illinois Wittmaack, et al. (2013). International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine, Sausalito, California Wittmaack, et al. (2013). International Congress for Conservation Biology, Baltimore, Maryland

Contact this candidate