Helen Poynton

The Poynton Lab started at UMass Boston in 2010.  It has grown to include graduate and undergraduate students and many alumni.

Current Students:

Graduate Students

Garrett Evensen joined the Poynton lab in Fall 2018 and is a fifth year Environmental Sciences PhD candidate. He received a BA in Marine Ecology from the University of San Diego. His current research focuses on sex differentiation and endocrine disruption in the marine bivalve, Mytilus edulis. He has used RNAseq and phylogenetics to investigate which genes are involved in bivalve sex differentiation. His research also includes how bivalves are affected by endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and how EDCs perturb sex differentiation processes. He has done some work on the negative effects of parasitic trematodes on marine bivalves. Now, Garrett is transitioning to a Bioinformatics Analyst II role at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences.

Valeria Hernandez joined the Poynton Lab in Fall 2020 and is a current third year Environmental Science PhD student. Her current research is in environmental risk assessments, specifically community-driven assessment of environmental concerns and health risks in Vieques, Puerto Rico through community participatory research. Her research focuses on linking 60 years of military exercises in Vieques to health threats for the residents on the island from exposed ecosystems. Valeria was born and raised on the west side of Puerto Rico (P.R); and spends her time at the beach, reading good books, and playing with her dogs.

Irina Polunina joined the Poynton Lab in Fall 2020 and is a third year Marine Science and Technology PhD student. She received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science, and a minor in Chemistry from University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her current research is in developmental toxicology, specifically developing an embryo toxicity assay using the freshwater invertebrate H. azteca, titled the H. azteca Embryo Toxicity Assay. Irina is using her developed assay to test environmentally-relevant samples, such as air pollution, and product-specific samples, such as metal nanoparticles commonly found in personal care products. Testing these samples will show the impact of chemical pollution on morphology, gene expression, and neurobehavioral endpoints.

Undergraduate Students

Spencer Caddigan

Post-Doc Students

Dr. Chiara DeBenedictis

Alumni

Alex Figueroa

Victoria Deery

Freddie Meyer

Dira Johanif, M.S.

Dr. Kristin Osborne

Dr. Bonnie Blalock

Dr. Kaley Major

Shown above are some of the Poynton Lab’s recent alumni.  Dr. Kristin Osborne (left) is now an Assistant Professor at Mass Martime Academy.  Dr. Bonnie Blalock and Dr. Kaley Major (right) received their Ph.D.s in December 2018. Kaley has moved on to post-doc in the Brander Lab at Oregon State University while Bonnie is a Study Director at Toxikon Corporation.