The focus of the Padilla lab is to understand how organisms respond to and survive environmental stress. She is particularly interested in identifying the molecular mechanisms involved with 1) hypometabolic states and 2) how diet and genotype influences stress responses. The lab takes a genetic and cellular approach for studying phenomena that is relevant to human health issues (oxygen deprivation, diabetes, obesity).

About Dr. Pamela Padilla:

Professor, received her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico and conducted her post-doctoral research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle WA. She has an interest in how environmental stress affects living organisms at the cellular, genetic and molecular level. She has experience studying stress with various genetic model systems including C. elegans, yeast, zebrafish, killifish, and mammalian cell culture. Her research has been continually supported by either NIH or NSF and she has received numerous fellowships and grants including an NSF CAREER award. She was a guest speaker at the Kavli and Frontiers symposium (Beckman Center of the National Academy of Sciences), was supported by the Glenn Scholars program at the Salk Institute, editor for the book "Anoxia", a reviewer for many journals and granting institutes, given an outstanding mentor award by Siemens Scholarship, was award the Early Career Award for Research and Creativity at UNT and recently elected to the Board of Directors for the largest STEM diversity organization in the country- SACNAS (See for more information). She has recently entered the world of Higher Education Administration and served as Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Science (2017-2018) and is interim Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation (2018-present). Aside from her intense interest in science and higher education she is passionate about equality & workforce diversity, enjoys running half marathons, playing with dogs, listening to loud music and spending time with her family and friends. Moto: do not allow negative voices to dictate your path. Persist!