Profile
Kylie Rock
Biological Sciences
Assistant Professor
864-656-2328
Jordan Hall 200 [Lab]
Long Hall 134 [Office]
Educational Background
Ph.D, Toxicology, North Carolina State University, 2019
B.S., Biology, St. Lawrence University, 2012
Profile/About Me
Kylie Rock is a Toxicologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. She has spent more than a decade in the field of toxicology working with a broad range of animal models, including laboratory (rats and mice), domestic (horses and dogs), and wildlife (sharks and alligators) species, to assess health risks associated with chemical exposures.
Research Interests
Environmental pollutants like heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) don’t just impact a single species; they can have a ripple effect across ecosystems crossing the boundaries between animal, human, and environmental health. For example, pollutants can accumulate in animal tissues, make their way into the food system, and ultimately promote adverse health outcomes in humans. Additionally, environmental contamination can compromise ecosystem dynamics by threatening the survival of vulnerable species and food security, contributing to the precipitous loss in biodiversity that has been observed over the last few centuries. In today’s interconnected world, where shared environments and resources (e.g., food and water) yield similar contaminant exposures, it is critical to take a more holistic and integrated approach to toxicological research to identify and mitigate common threats posed by pollutants. The One Health framework promotes an interdisciplinary strategy to manage complex health issues that cannot be adequately addressed in isolation by bringing together veterinarians, physicians, environmental scientists, policymakers, and public health experts. The Repro-Eco Tox Lab aims to identify mechanisms of chemical toxicity at the cellular, tissue, organismal, and population levels utilizing comparative and translational study designs within the One Health framework. Combining in vitro, in vivo, and in situ approaches our research group is currently focused on three main study areas:
1. Elucidating novel mechanisms and exposure windows of reproductive susceptibility to EDCs focusing on maternal, fetal, placental, and microbiome outcomes.
2. Defining how differences in coastal urbanization and feeding ecology contribute to bioaccumulation and biomagnification of heavy metals and POPs in marine food webs.
3. Identifying interactions between marine microbes and POPs to improve our understanding of chemical-induced shifts in microbial populations and microbial biodegradation potential.
Research Group (Lab)
Paige Powell, Lab Manager
Mary Boland, Research Assistant
Maryam Afghah, PhD Student - BioSci
Ansley Elkins, PhD Student - BioSci
Melissa Walker, MS Student - EnTox
Zach Padgett, MS Student - EnTox
Elizabeth Mulligan, Undergraduate
Sydney Schinkai, Undergraduate
Alexandra Suggs, Undergraduate
Chloe Schmidt, Undergraduate
Kylie Artosky, Undergraduate
Courses Taught
Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (BIOL 4930)
Cell Biology (BIOL 4610/6610)
Environmental Toxicology Reading Group (ETOX 8630)
Creative Inquiry - Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (BIOL 4940)
Selected Publications
Rock KD, Folts L, Zierden HC, Marx-Rattner R, Leu A, Nugent BM, Bale TL. (In Review) Developmental transcriptomic patterns can be altered by transgenic overexpression of Uty. Scientific Reports.
https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2928137/v1
Rock KD, Polera ME, Guillette TC, McCord J, Dean K, Watters M, Stevens-Stewart D, Belcher SM. 2023 Companion Animals as Sentinels of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Exposure and Associated Health Biomarkers in Gray’s Creek North Carolina. Environmental Science and Technology.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c01146
Rock KD, Starnes HM, Belcher SM. 2023 Reproductive Toxicology, Female. Encyclopedia of Toxicology.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-824315-2.00420-6
Belcher SM, Guillette MP, Robb F, Rock KD. (2022) Comparative Assessment of Blood Mercury in American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) from Coastal North Carolina and Florida. Ecotoxicology.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-022-02573-z
Starnes HM, Rock KD, Jackson TW, Belcher SM. (2022) A Critical Review and Meta-Analysis of Impacts of Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances on the Brain and Behavior. Frontiers in Toxicology.
https://doi.org/10.3389/ftox.2022.881584
Memberships
Society of Toxicology
Society of Toxicology: Women in Toxicology
Society of Toxicology: Southeastern Chapter
Society of Toxicology: Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Specialty Section
Society for Reproductive Investigation
Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry
Carolinas Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry
American Elasmobranch Society
Outreach
The Repro-Eco Tox Lab is committed to developing and participating in public outreach and educational programs. For many people, science is inaccessible and difficult to understand.
By participating in scientific outreach we hope to inspire the next generation of scientist, promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, improve scientific literacy, and advocate for our local communities.
We recently had the opportunity to work with the Clemson Science Outreach Center and some amazing volunteers from the Dasgupta Lab to explore the scientific method with local elementary and high school students at the Littlejohn Community Center . We measured and compared locomotion of planarians exposed to different sources of caffeine, made some posters to present our data, and used some natural dyes to bring some color and artistic expression to our planarian t-shirts.
