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Kristin O'Brien
Cold temperature poses a significant challenge to fish because as ectotherms, their body temperature conforms to environmental temperature. One of the greatest challenges imposed by life at cold temperature is maintaining the production of ATP because for every 10°C decrease in temperature there is an approximate two-fold decrease in the catalytic rate of enzymes, known as the Q10 effect.
Research in my laboratory is aimed at understanding how fish maintain energy production at cold temperature. One area of our research focuses on understanding how mitochondrial function and density changes in response to seasonal changes in temperature in the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus. A second focus of our research is understanding the unique adaptations that have arisen in Antarctic fishes that inhabit the chronically cold waters of the Southern Ocean.
*** I am currently recruiting for two graduate students to join my lab in the summer or fall of 2019 to study the molecular basis of metabolic remodeling in stickleback. Please contact me if you are interested.****
- B.S. Zoology, Duke Unversity, 1990
- Ph.D. Zoology, University of Maine, Orono, 1999
- NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Colorado, Boulder, Dept. of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, 1999 - 2004
- 2018 - present, Professor of Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- 2010 - 2018, Associate Professor of Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- 2004 - 2010, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- 2004 - present, Affiliate Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- 1999 - 2004, Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Colorado, Boulder
2018
2017
2016
Pages
American Physiological Society
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
- Collaborative Research: Redox balance in Antarctic notothenioid fishes: Do ice fishes have an advantage? (2011-2014)
- Collaborative Research: Linkages Among Mitochondrial Form, Function and Thermal Tolerance of Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes (2008-2011)
- Collaborative Research: Differential Expression of Oxygen-Binding in Antarctic Fishes Affects Nitric Oxide-Mediated Pathways of Angiogenesis and Mitochondrial Biogenesis (2005-2008)
- 2018 - 2021 An energy-sensitive pathway of cold-induced metabolic remodeling in threespine stickleback. P.I., National Science Foundation
- 2017 - 2018 The effect of polyglutamine and glutamic acid repeats on HIF-1 function. P.I., Alaska INBRE Pilot Award
- 2014 - 2017 Collaborative research: The physiological and biochemical underpinnings of thermal tolerance in Antarctic notothenioid fishes. P.I., National Science Foundation
- 2011 - 2014 Collaborative research: Redox balance in Antarctic notothenioid fishes; Do icefish have an advantage? P.I., National Science Foundation
- 2008 - 2011: Collaborative research: Linkages among thermal tolerance and mitochondrial form and function in notothenioid fishes. P.I., National Science Foundation
- 2007 - 2012: CAREER: The molecular mechanisms of cold-induced mitochondrial biogenesis. National Science Foundation
- 2006 - 2007 The mitochondrion as a temperature sensor: Molecular mechanisms regulating cold-induced mitochondrial biogenesis in oxidative muscle of Gasterosteus aculeatus. AK EPSCoR
- 2005 - 2008 Collaborative research: Differential expression of oxygen-binding proteins in Antarctic fishes affects nitric oxide- mediated pathways of angiogenesis and mitochondrial biogenesis. Co-PI, National Science Foundation
- 2005 - 2007 Cellular protection against nitrosative stress. American Heart Association
- BIOL 115 Fundamentals of Biology I This course is an introduction to the principles of biology for science majors, with an emphasis on the chemistry of life, cell structure and function, molecular biology, metabolism and physiology.
- BIOL 360/ CHEM 360 Cell and Molecular Biology In this course we investigate how cells function. Topics include how cells use the information encoded in DNA to produce RNA and proteins, cell signaling, oxidative phosphorylation, photosyntheisis, protein sorting, cell division, cancer, aging, and the molecular basis of disease.
- BIOL 363/MATH 693 Synthetic Biology Students in this course will couple molecular biological techniques and computer modeling of biological systems to design and construct a novel synthetic microorganism.
Current Graduate Students (More info)
- Anna Rix
Past Graduate Students
Corey Oldham, M.S. 2016
Kelly Keenan, M.S. 2015
Laura Teigen, M.S. 2014
Irina Mueller, Ph.D. 2012
Julieanna Orczewska, M.S. 2011
Aaron Kammer, M.S. 2010
Matt Urschel, M.S. 2009
In the News
- Students build camera to capture footage of Antarctic icefish
(4 February 2017) Good Day Chicago - Fox 32 - How do you study fish in Antarctica? Ask these CPS students, who built a probe
(24 January 2017) Chicago Tribune - Fish #388
(23 September 2016) Science for the People - Handy guide details dozens of outdoor trips in Fairbanks area
(3 July 2016) Alaska Dispatch News - The last intact ecosystem on Earth
(pdf)
(25 January 2014) SitNews - Chicago Teacher and Students Build Underwater Camera Rig to Observe and Record Antarctic Fish
(pdf)
(10 July 2013) National Science Foundation - Blood may be thicker than water but it isn't always
(pdf)
(27 September 2012) UAF Aurora magazine - Kristin O’Brien: Antarctic icefishes have translucent bodies and blood
(pdf)
(20 January 2012) EarthSky.org
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