Dr. Kristen Walton
Title: Professor
Email: kwalton1@missouriwestern.edu
Phone: (816)271-5613
Accepting Students: Yes
Quick Bio
Dr. Kristen Walton has been at MoWest since 2006. Her research interests include normal intestinal physiology, inflammatory bowel disease, interactions between normal microbiota or dietary components and the host organism, and biology education research. She teaches classes on topics that include animal physiology, immunology, pathophysiology, and others.
Education/Academic Qualifications
B.S. Biology, with minors in Chemistry and French, Missouri State University
Ph.D., Physiology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Effects of Probiotics and Prebiotics on Intestinal Inflammation in Animal and Cell Culture Models
Probiotics are microbes that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, promote health. Prebiotics are dietary molecules that support the growth of beneficial microbes in the intestine. The overall aims of this project are to study the effects of various probiotic bacteria or prebiotics on intestinal inflammation, using cultured mammalian cells and/or induced colitis in mice as the experimental models. For cell culture-based projects, students will learn mammalian cell culture techniques, and other techniques that may include nucleic acid isolation, PCR, and immunofluorescent staining and microscopy. For mouse-based projects, students will learn laboratory animal handling and assessment of clinical signs of colitis, and other techniques that may include nucleic acid isolation, PCR, histology, immunohistochemistry, and western blotting.
Requirements
Reliability is the most important requirement! Preference given to students who have completed BIO205 and who have an interest in physiology and/or immunology.
Past Research / Publications
Students from my research group have presented posters on their research at on-campus symposia as well as state, regional and national conferences
Peer-reviewed publications:
- Walton KLW. Approaches to teaching about mechanisms of obesity in undergraduate pathophysiology courses. Advances in Physiology Education 2024;48:304-308.
- Walton KLW. Use of a short, in-class drawing activity to assess student understanding of core concepts of the cell membrane in an undergraduate physiology class. Advances in Physiology Education 2023;47(3):508-513.
- Baker JC and KLW Walton. Illustrating flow cytometry in an immunology lab using a hands-on, low tech simulation. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education 2020;21(2):21.2.51.
- Improvement in student data analysis skills after out-of-class assignments. Journal of Biology and Microbiology Education 2016;17(3):466-468.
- Walton KLW. Using a popular science nonfiction book to introduce biomedical research ethics in a biology majors course. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education 2014;15(12):240-242.
- Rybarczyk BJ and KLW Walton. The development of an instrument to assess students’ data analysis skills in molecular biology. Journal of Biology and Microbiology Education 2014;15(12):259-267.
- Deng S, Walton KLW, Blue RE, MacNaughton K, Magness ST, and PK Lund. Mucosal healing and fibrosis after acute or chronic inflammation in wild type FVB-N mice and C57BL6 procollagen alpha1(I)-promoter-GFP reporter mice. PLoS ONE 2012;7(8):e42568.
