Cornalees, Scotland

Scott P. Kelly
PhD (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Associate Professor
e-mail: spk@yorku.ca
Research areas: Animal Physiology, Endocrinology, Environmental Physiology

My research program is primarily concerned with elucidating mechanisms associated with the regulation of salt and water balance in aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates, with an emphasis on occluding junctions and the endocrine system as link between environmental change and physiological response.

We use model organisms that allow a great deal of insight into the physiological and biochemical processes we study such as the lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), puffer fish of the genus Tetraodon, rainbow trout, the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis, as well as aquatic larvae of arthropods. Current areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the regulation of epithelial permeability in response to environmental and systemic change, the development of primary cultured in vitro model gill epithelia, botanicals as adaptogens and novel regulators of salt and water balance as well as the endocrine regulation of food intake and energy balance.

The main goal of my program to gain a broader understanding of how animals "work" and to provide a training environment where the intellectual involvement and capacity for growth of trainees is front and center.