Cairsty DePasquale

Cairsty DePasquale is an Associate Professor of Biology in the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Division at Penn State Altoona, Pennsylvania. She received her undergraduate with honors degree from the University of Edinburgh, UK, her Masters of Research degree from the University of Glasgow, UK, and her Ph.D. from Penn State University.

Across her career, Dr. DePasquale has developed a keen interest in how the environment drives differences in the brain and behavior of animals. During her Masters work with Dr. Felicity Huntingford at the University of Glasgow, she focused on research that looked at how physical activity influences neurogenesis (growth of new neurons) and learning in Arctic Charr. As a Ph.D. student in Dr. Victoria Braithwaite’s lab at Penn State University, she studied how the interaction of environmental enrichment and stress plays a role in the brain, behavior and cognition of fish. Throughout her training, Dr DePasquale has utilized many standardized tests for assessing behavior in fish, and has learned different techniques for looking at the underlying changes in the brain. She has also studied a variety of different fish species from farmed fish such as salmon and Arctic Charr, to tropical species such as B. episcopii and the common laboratory fish, the zebrafish.

At Penn State Altoona, Dr. DePasquale’s research program includes investigating the mechanisms behind exercise-induced neurogenesis as well as investigating the different types of learning that are affected. She uses flumes to exercise the fish, tests their cognitive capacity in spatial tasks and then looks at gross brain morphology or applies molecular techniques to assess changes at the neurological level.