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Mary Hagedorn, Ph.D., Fish Physiologist,
Department of Reproductive Sciences
Reproductive
Sciences
Education
Jackson
College, Tufts University, B.A., Biology, 1975
Tufts University, M.S., Biology, 1976
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California
at San Diego, Ph.D., Marine Biology, 1983
Cornell University, NIH National Science Research Award, Postdoctoral
Fellowship, 1984-1986
Professional History and Interests
Within the next 30 years, many fish species in rivers and oceans will become threatened or extinct. Mary Hagedorn works against this dire trend through studies of fish embryo and coral larva cryopreservation as a hedge against an uncertain future.
Scientists have attempted to cryopreserve fish embryos for 50 years, but most have abandoned hope for success. In 1993, Hagedorn determined that modern tools in magnetic resonance imaging, spectroscopy and molecular biology might be useful to resolving the challenges to successfully freezing the fish embryo. Her initial studies revealed the embryo layer that physically blocks cryoprotectant movement into the embryo’s yolk. Without cryoprotectant throughout the embryo, lethal ice crystals form.
Hagedorn’s finding have led to novel theories about new approaches to fish embryo cryopreservation. Her contemporary studies rely on molecular technologies to introduce cryoprotectant channels into the fish embryo's cell membranes. In turn, this allows cryoprotectant to enter the embryo’s yolk, thereby permitting successful cryopreservation. A patent is pending for this discovery.
Hagedorn’s research and the eventual routine ability to cryopreserve fish embryos will have a major impact on conservation, medical research and food production (i.e., aquaculture). It also is anticipated that her work will have implications for cryopreserving embryos from other taxa with large-sized, yolk-containing embryos (e.g., amphibians, birds, reptiles, and fish).
Hagedorn has been a research physiologist for 25 years and has published more than 55 senior-authored articles in peer-reviewed publications. Her laboratory-based work has been cutting-edge, as proven by her ability to maintain her laboratory, its staff, and her own salary totally from external sources.
In the past seven years, she has been awarded several multi-year, externally funded grants from the National Institutes of Health, Maryland Sea Grant College, and the George E. Burch Fellowship in Theoretic Medicine and Affiliated Theoretic Sciences. Her studies involve collaborations with ten prestigious research institutions in the U.S. and Latin America.
She is a committed teacher, sharing her expertise in university-level courses as well as to the public at the National Zoo. She has continuously trained a cadre of post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and interns. She is a frequent invited lecturer at national and international scientific conferences, and recently was elected to the Board of Governors for the Society for Cryobiology and the Editorial Board for the Journal Cryobiology.
Selected Publications
Hagedorn, M. 2003. The Lure of Field Research on Electric Fish. In: The Senses of Fishes: Adaptations for the Reception of Natural Stimuli, Eds. von der Emde, G., Kapoor B.G., and Mogdans, J. (in press)
Hagedorn, M., S.L. Lance, D. M. Fonseca, F.W. Kleinhans, D. Artimov, R. Fleischer, A.T.M.S. Hoque, and B.S. Pukanzhenthi 2002. Altering the membranes of fish embryos with aquaporin-3: an essential step for cryopreservation. Biology of Reproduction 67:961-966.
Hagedorn, M., F.W. Kleinhans, D. Artemov and U. Pilatus. 1998. Characterization of a major permeability barrier in the zebrafish embryo. Biology of Reproduction 59, 1240-1250.
Hagedorn, M., F.W. Kleinhans, R. Freitas, J. Liu, E. Hsu, D. E. Wildt and W. F. Rall. 1997. Water distribution and permeability of zebrafish embryos, Brachydanio rerio. Journal of Experimental Zoology 278, 356-371.
Hagedorn, M., E.W. Hsu, U. Pilatus, D.E. Wildt, W.F. Rall and S.J. Blackband. 1996. Magnetic resonance microscopy and spectroscopy reveal kinetics of cryoprotectant permeation in a multicompartmental biological system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 93, 7454-7459.
View all publications, abstracts, and printable papers by Mary Hagedorn
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