Kristin Hardy

Research Interests:

• Environmental physiology of marine invertebrates (primarily crustaceans and molluscs)
• Metabolic effects of intracellular and environmental hypoxia
• Molecular and physiological adaptations to hypoxia and hypercapnia
• Comparative muscle anatomy, physiology and energetics
• Evolution of behavior in crustaceans
• Metabolic consequences of immune challenge
• Effects of xenoestrogens on immune function

Education:

Postdoctoral Scholar Environmental Physiology and Immunology, Oceans and Human Health, Medical University of South Carolina
Ph.D., Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009
B.S., Neuroscience, Tulane University, 2003

Professional Appointments:

Assistant Professor of Biology, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 2011-Present
NOAA Oceans and Human Health Post Doctoral Scholar, Marine Biomedicine and Environmental Science, University of South Carolina, 2009-2011
Research/Teaching Assistant, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2003-2009

Current Research Projects:

• Effects of 4-nonylphenol on immunocompetence and disease susceptibility in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas and Dungeness crab Cancer magister.
• Effects of tidal zone position on muscle metabolism and ultrastructure in the barnacle.
• Effects of hypoxia, hypercapnia and bacterial challenge on protein synthesis in the Pacific whiteleg shrimp Litopeneaus vannamei.

Selected recent publications:

Hardy, K.M., Follett, C.R., Burnett, L.E. and Lema, S.C (2012). Gene transcripts encoding hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) exhibit tissue- and muscle fiber type-dependent responses to hypoxia and hypercapnic hypoxia in the Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A. 163, 137-146.

Schrandt, M.N., Hardy, K.M., Johnson, K.M., and Lema, S.C. (2012). Habitat variation in a coral reef influences behavior in the bicolor damselfish. Mar. Ecol. 33, 149-164.

Hardy, K.M., Lema, S.C. and Kinsey, S.T. (2010). The metabolic demands of swimming behavior influence the evolution of skeletal muscle fiber design in the brachyuran crab family Portunidae. Mar. Biol. 157, 221–236.

Hardy, K.M., Dillaman, R.M., Locke B.R. and Kinsey, S.T. (2009). A skeletal muscle model of extreme hypertrophic growth reveals the influence of diffusion on cellular design. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 296, R1855-R1867.

Kinsey, S.T., Hardy, K.M. and Locke B.R. (2007). The long and winding road: influences of intracellular metabolite diffusion on cellular organization and metabolism in skeletal muscle. J. Exp. Biol. 210, 3505-3512.

Hardy, K.M., Locke, B.R., Da Silva, M. and Kinsey, S.T. (2006). A reaction-diffusion analysis of energetics in large muscle fibers secondarily evolved for aerobic locomotor function. J. Exp. Biol. 209, 3610-3620.

Kinsey, S.T., Pathi, P., Hardy, K.M., Jordan, A. and Locke, B.R. (2005). Does intracellular diffusive flux limit post-contractile recovery in anaerobic locomotor muscle? J. Exp. Biol. 208, 2641-2652.

Current UnderGraduate Students:

• Michael Lauth
• Alison Dutton

Research Program Development and Coordination:

• Oceans and Human Health Summer Undergraduate Research Program, Medical University of South Carolina
  • Minority focused undergraduate research experience
  • Collaboratively acted as program developer, coordinator, lecturer, and undergraduate mentor (2009-2011)