Kristin Bianchini

Current research 

I am investigating whether exposure to chronic hypoxia induces a developmentally plastic response in rainbow trout embryos. Two hemoglobin polymorphs, embryonic and adult, are present during rainbow trout development. Embryonic hemoglobin, which is found in erythrocytes that are more round and have a less conspicuous nucleus than adult erythrocytes, has a higher oxygen affinity and lacks the Bohr and Root effects observed in the adult form (Iuchi 1973, 1973B).  I predict that under chronic hypoxia, the turnover of higher affinity embryonic hemoglobin for lower affinity adult hemoglobin will be slowed in order to facilitate oxygen uptake. To test this, I am treating rainbow trout embryos with chronic hypoxia (30% of saturation) and measuring hemoglobin-oxygen affinity, the Bohr and Root shifts, erythrocyte morphology, and hemoglobin mRNA expression.  

Education

B.Sc. Honours in Physiology and Developmental Biology - University of Alberta, Edmonton,  AB

M.Sc Candidate in Environmental Physiology - University of Guelph, Guelph, ON