Hayley Spina (Wilson)

I am broadly interested in the field of ecophysiology, where I merge laboratory-based methods with ecological fieldwork. For my PhD, I am studying how early-life factors affect physiology and fitness in a population of wild Savannah sparrows. Specifically, I aim to study the effects of factors such as local density on physiological end points such as the gut microbiome and the HPA axis. For my MSc, I studied the impacts of elevated prenatal testosterone on development and stress physiology in laboratory mice.

Education:
Guelph University: Master of Science, Biomedical Science
Queen’s University: Bachelor of Science, Life Science

Select Publications:

Wilson, H.A., Creighton, C., Scharfman, H., Choleris, E., & MacLusky, N.J. Endocrine insights into the pathophysiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Neuroscientist. In Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858420952046

Mendell, A.L., Creighton, S.D., Wilson, H.A., Isaacs, L., Winters, B.D., & MacLusky, N.J. (2020). Inhibition of 5alpha reductase impairs cognitive performance, alters dendritic morphology and increases tau phosphorylation in the hippocampus of male 3xTg-AD mice. Neuroscience, 429:185-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.01.011

Wilson, H.A., Martin, E.R., Howes, C., Wasson, C.S. Newman, A., Choleris, E., & MacLusky, N.J. (2020). Low dose prenatal testosterone exposure decreases the corticosterone response to stress in adult male, but not female, mice. Brain Research, 1729, 146613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2019.146613