UMass Boston

Environmental genomics, transcriptomics, marine pollution, stress ecology, environmental toxicology, community based participatory research in ecotoxicology

Temple University, BS, 2000

University of California, Berkeley, PhD, 2007

San Antonio, C*, Poynton, H, Krick, K**, Hannigan, R. 2025. Ocean warming and acidification alter calcification and innate immune system gene expression in juvenile American lobsters, Homarus americanus. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D: Genomics and Proteomics. 54:101404.

Evensen, KG*, Rusin, E**, Robinson, WE, Price, CL, Kelly, SL, Lamb, DC, Goldstone, JV, Poynton, HC. 2024. Vertebrate endocrine disruptors induce sex-reversal in blue mussels. Sci Rep. 14:23890.

Evensen, KG*, Figueroa, AE**, Goncalves, AM**, Chan, TJ**, Vu, EB**, Hounain, I**, Poynton, HC. 2023. Prevalence and effects of a parasitic trematode on the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, in the Boston Harbor. Experimental Parasitology. 254: 108624.

Major, KM*, Weston, DP, Wellborn, GA, Lydy, MJ, Poynton HC. (2022) Predicting resistance: Quantifying the relationship between urban development, agricultural pesticide use, and pesticide resistance in a non-target amphipod. Environmental Science and Technology.

Di Carlo, E*, Boullemant, A, Poynton, H, Courtney, R. (2020) Exposure of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) to bauxite residue: Implications for future rehabilitation programmes. The Science of the Total Environment, 716: 137126. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137126

Oziolor, EM, DeSchamphelaere, K, Lyon, D, Nacci, D, Poynton, HC. (2020) Evolutionary Toxicology – an informational tool for chemical regulation? Environ Toxicol Chem. 39(2), 257-268. DOI: 10.1002/etc.4611

Osborne, KL*, Poynton, HC. (2019) Copper pollution enhances the competitive advantage of invasive ascidians. Management of Biological Invasions. 10(4): 641-56. DOI: 10.3391/mbi.2019.10.4.05

Poynton, HC, Chen, C, Alexander, SL**, Major, KM*, Blalock, BJ*, Unrine, JM. (2019) Enhanced toxicity of environmentally transformed ZnO nanoparticles relative to Zn ions in the epibenthic amphipod Hyalella azteca, Environmental Science: Nano. 6(1):325-40. DOI: 10.1039/C8EN00755A

Blalock, BJ*, Robinson, WE, Loguinov, A, Vulpe, CD, Krick, KS**, Poynton, HC. (2018) Transcriptomic and Network Analyses Reveal Mechanistic-Based Biomarkers of Endocrine Disruption in the Marine Mussel, Mytilus edulis, Environ Sci Technol. 53(16): 9419-9430.

Poynton, HC, Hasenbein, S, Benoit, JB, Sepulveda MS, Poelchau, MF, et al. (2018) The Toxicogenome of Hyalella azteca: a model for sediment ecotoxicology and evolutionary toxicology. Environmental Science and Technology. 52(10): 6009- 6022. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b00837

Weston, DP, Poynton, HC, Wellborn, GA, Lydy, MJ, Blalock, BJ*, Sepulveda, MS, Colbourne, J. (2013) Multiple origins of pyrethroid insecticide resistance across the species complex of a non-target aquatic crustacean, Hyalella azteca. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 110 (41), 16532-16537.

Our research group develops and applies molecular tools to understand exposures to and effects of environmental stressors: from climate change and ocean acidification to pesticides and emerging contaminants.  Learn more about our research at Poyntonlab.com.