Katherine (Kat) Krynak PhD.
-2016-Present Associate Professor of Biology, Ohio Northern University; tenured 2021
-2015-2016 Postdoctoral Student Case Western Reserve University (Mentored by Dr. Ryan Martin (CWRU) and Dr. Patricia Dennis (OSU/Cleveland Metroparks Zoo))
-2010-1015 Doctoral studies Case Western Reserve University
-2008-2010 Research Assistant of Dr. Mike Benard (CWRU)
-2001-2008 Animal Care Cleveland Metroparks
-1998-2001 Animal Care Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens
As an Associate Professor of Biology at Ohio Northern University, I am excited to introduce my students to techniques and methodologies linking the fields of ecology and molecular biology.
Our lab seeks to answer questions that will 1) improve our understanding of how environmental changes influence wildlife health and 2) will provide impetus to alter management strategies to better protect wildlife health and improve conservation outcomes.
Current projects:
Fungal pathogen surveillance
-Captive Breeding of Plains Garter Snakes (Thamnophis radix) to aid species conservation efforts in collaboration with Doug Wynn, ODNR, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Columbus Zoo. 2022 marks our first year for the project and our newly acquired female produced 10 babies which will be released at KPWA this summer.
-Investigating relationships between the enteric microbiome, zoo-housed animal health, and husbandry changes in a variety of species including sloth bear, potto, red wolves, western lowland gorillas, cheetah, and giraffe.
Population genetics (in collaboration with Dr. Ken Oswald (Miami University).
-Investigating nuclear genomic contributions to the unisexual salamanders of the Tidd-Oakes Farm in Hardin Co. Ohio. This work is also in collaboration with Emily Gremling (ONU ENFB alum).
-Investigating hybridization in darters of Ohio in collaboration with Ken Oswald and Hannah Gill (ONU ENFB major).
A sampling of additional student research projects in the Krynak Lab of recent years:
Microbiome shifts associated with PTSD in a rat model.
collaborators: Ian Smith* and Phillip Zoladz
collaborators: Elizabeth Naugle* (Ohio Northern University: undergraduate), Leslie Riley (ONU), Robert Verb (ONU), and Chris Spiese (ONU)
collaborators: Lauren Govekar*, Sophia Beery*, and Stephanie Drellishak*
Does age, sex, or species explain gut microbiome differences in a colony of captive Lorikeets at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo?
collaborators; Alexa Wagner (Doctoral Candidate Case Western Reserve University), Patricia Dennis (Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and The Ohio State Cooperative), and David Burke (The Holden Arboretum)
Background: I graduated with my PhD in Biology at CWRU in June 2015. My dissertation research focused on relationships between environmental change and amphibian immune defense traits. While newly emergent pathogens including Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have caused devastating population amphibian declines globally, by applying our broadened understanding of environmental influence on traits which provide disease resistance, we can improve conservation outcomes. This work was conducted with guidance from my PhD advisor and Ecologist Michael Benard, Microbial ecologist David Burke, Epidemiologist Patricia Dennis, Animal physiologist Brandon Sheafor, and Ecologist Jean Burns.
As a postdoctoral scholar working in collaboration with Drs. Ryan Martin (evolutionary biologist), David Burke, and Patricia Dennis I developed skills in bioinformatics while conducting bacterial metagenomic analyses on a resource polyphenism in Spea multiplicata and Spea bombifrons. Additionally, I used these techniques to assess potential links between the gut microbiome and cardiac disease in the critically endangered Gorilla gorilla gorilla.
-2016-Present Associate Professor of Biology, Ohio Northern University; tenured 2021
-2015-2016 Postdoctoral Student Case Western Reserve University (Mentored by Dr. Ryan Martin (CWRU) and Dr. Patricia Dennis (OSU/Cleveland Metroparks Zoo))
-2010-1015 Doctoral studies Case Western Reserve University
-2008-2010 Research Assistant of Dr. Mike Benard (CWRU)
-2001-2008 Animal Care Cleveland Metroparks
-1998-2001 Animal Care Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens
As an Associate Professor of Biology at Ohio Northern University, I am excited to introduce my students to techniques and methodologies linking the fields of ecology and molecular biology.
Our lab seeks to answer questions that will 1) improve our understanding of how environmental changes influence wildlife health and 2) will provide impetus to alter management strategies to better protect wildlife health and improve conservation outcomes.
Current projects:
Fungal pathogen surveillance
- -Assessing the prevalence of Thelohania contejani infected crayfish in Ohio watersheds and relationships between pathogen, host, and the environment.
- -Screening for Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the causative agent of snake fungal disease, in Hardin Co. Ohio. Future efforts will expand this survey to assess the influence of the host and environment on pathogen prevalence
-Captive Breeding of Plains Garter Snakes (Thamnophis radix) to aid species conservation efforts in collaboration with Doug Wynn, ODNR, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Columbus Zoo. 2022 marks our first year for the project and our newly acquired female produced 10 babies which will be released at KPWA this summer.
-Investigating relationships between the enteric microbiome, zoo-housed animal health, and husbandry changes in a variety of species including sloth bear, potto, red wolves, western lowland gorillas, cheetah, and giraffe.
Population genetics (in collaboration with Dr. Ken Oswald (Miami University).
-Investigating nuclear genomic contributions to the unisexual salamanders of the Tidd-Oakes Farm in Hardin Co. Ohio. This work is also in collaboration with Emily Gremling (ONU ENFB alum).
-Investigating hybridization in darters of Ohio in collaboration with Ken Oswald and Hannah Gill (ONU ENFB major).
A sampling of additional student research projects in the Krynak Lab of recent years:
Microbiome shifts associated with PTSD in a rat model.
collaborators: Ian Smith* and Phillip Zoladz
- Investigating the relationship between the gut microbiome and PTSD in a collaborative project between the Zoladz and Krynak laboratories at ONU. Knowing that there are connections between the vertebrate microbiome and behavior, it is possible that the microbiome may buffer some individuals’ chronic stress response and ultimately likelihood of developing PTSD. This particular study is the first step in investigating such big ideas.
collaborators: Elizabeth Naugle* (Ohio Northern University: undergraduate), Leslie Riley (ONU), Robert Verb (ONU), and Chris Spiese (ONU)
- Iron slag is currently being tested as a means of binding excessive nutrient's which run-off from agricultural fields in Western Ohio . This work is being done in conjunction with multiple projects assessing the effects of this iron slag treatment on water chemistry, invertebrate communities, and algal communities of a two-stage ditch system.
collaborators: Lauren Govekar*, Sophia Beery*, and Stephanie Drellishak*
- The cutaneous microbiome of ghost crabs, blue crabs, and fiddler crabs were compared from a single site. We are investigating whether host species differ in microbial community composition and if these host species differ in the relative abundance of bacteria associated with shell-rot diseases of the Gulf Coast.
Does age, sex, or species explain gut microbiome differences in a colony of captive Lorikeets at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo?
collaborators; Alexa Wagner (Doctoral Candidate Case Western Reserve University), Patricia Dennis (Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and The Ohio State Cooperative), and David Burke (The Holden Arboretum)
- By examining the gut microbiome of this captive colony we aim to improve our understanding of the factors that influence composition of symbiotic microbial communities.
Background: I graduated with my PhD in Biology at CWRU in June 2015. My dissertation research focused on relationships between environmental change and amphibian immune defense traits. While newly emergent pathogens including Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have caused devastating population amphibian declines globally, by applying our broadened understanding of environmental influence on traits which provide disease resistance, we can improve conservation outcomes. This work was conducted with guidance from my PhD advisor and Ecologist Michael Benard, Microbial ecologist David Burke, Epidemiologist Patricia Dennis, Animal physiologist Brandon Sheafor, and Ecologist Jean Burns.
As a postdoctoral scholar working in collaboration with Drs. Ryan Martin (evolutionary biologist), David Burke, and Patricia Dennis I developed skills in bioinformatics while conducting bacterial metagenomic analyses on a resource polyphenism in Spea multiplicata and Spea bombifrons. Additionally, I used these techniques to assess potential links between the gut microbiome and cardiac disease in the critically endangered Gorilla gorilla gorilla.
