On April 8th, at 10:00 AM, PhD student Corrin Laposki will be defending her dissertation, “A State of Unrest: Tracing Metabolic Instability Through Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Carbon Isotopes.” This defense will take place in the Class of 1947 Conference Room in the Homer Babbidge Library and can be streamed via WebEx. If interested, a WebEx link can be provided through the Department of Anthropology by contacting deborah.bolnick@uconn.edu. Good luck Corrin!
A State of Unrest: Tracing Metabolic Instability Through Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Carbon Isotopes.
“Far beyond their traditional roles in diet, climate, and ecological reconstruction, stable isotopes offer a sensitive and powerful means of detecting atypical metabolic processes in the body. Their diagnostic potential stems from the isotope effect- the predictable partitioning of light and heavy isotopes via equilibrium, diffusion, and kinetic mechanisms. This dissertation investigates the isotopic effect in three distinct contexts of altered or extreme metabolism:
- Antler growth in Mesopotamian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica).
- Chronic immune responses in the bone, teeth, and visceral tissues of wood smoke-exposed rats, and
- Malignant tissue growth in an otherwise healthy animal.
Together, these case studies demonstrate the remarkable versatility of stable isotope analysis in addressing questions of pathology, metabolic hierarchy, and physiological disruption across time, space, and species” (Corrin Laposki).