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To study this at the MBL, Seraphin exposes frog embryos to stressors just a few days after they’re laid. In the absence of menacing snakes in the lab, Seraphin simulates snake-like vibration by gently rubbing the surface of the eggs until they hatch, which occurs up to three days earlier than eggs that are left undisturbed. Studying the brains, immune systems, and behavior of frogs that have hatched early could offer “insights into which brain-body systems are driving the timing and tempo of life history under stress,” says Seraphin.

Though in her lab at Trinity College she has studied chimpanzees, rhesus monkeys, and humans, Seraphin was excited to explore new model organisms at MBL this summer.

Seraphin first visited MBL when she was an REU student in nearby Buzzards Bay, and returned last summer as a SEE-Diversity (Scholarships to Enhance and Empower Diversity) workshop participant. 

“The E.E. Just Fellowship provided the perfect opportunity for me to return to MBL and learn transferable skills and techniques that have contributed to [research] success with Xenopus to my neotropical frogs,” she says. The MBL is the home of the National Xenopus Resource, a national facility for maintaining Xenopus lines for biomedical research, and for training in their use.

So far this summer, Seraphin’s team has become the first in about a dozen years to successfully breed red-eyed tree frogs in the lab. With around 300 new specimens, the team plans to study how early hatching shapes the patterning of gene expression and neuroanatomical development.

“Our preliminary growth data reveal significant developmental acceleration in body mass of stress-induced early hatching tadpoles, compared to those allowed to hatch on their own,” reports Seraphin. “This is the first piece of evidence to support that laboratory red eyes could help us understand developmental acceleration after early stress in humans.” 

This work could help researchers develop treatment for the millions of Americans who live with the long-term effects of childhood adversity.