Breanna Harris
Specialization
Behavioral Endocrinology; Stress Physiology; Reproduction; Trade-offs; Sex and Gender; Active and Inclusive Teaching
Research Interests
Broadly, I study how stress influences organismal physiology and behavior. Stress is ubiquitous and the study of this phenomenon spans levels of biological organization, from cells to ecosystems, and encompasses multiple fields of science. Thus, my work is integrative, comparative, collaborative, and transdisciplinary. Most of my work has focused on the behavioral, physiological, and fitness implications of plasticity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis is evolutionarily conserved, and its hormones are critical for survival. These hormones (e.g., cortisol, corticosterone, corticotropin-releasing factor) play vital roles in many physiological and behavioral processes, and influence reproduction, immune system regulation, memory and cognition, emotional processing, feeding, and cardiovascular function. Many human diseases and psychopathologies (e.g., PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease) present with HPA axis dysregulation for unknown reasons and by unknown mechanisms. Using animal and human studies I ask organismal-level questions (e.g., what are the functional, organism-level consequences of physiological responses?) to understand how stress-related responses, at various biological levels of analysis, correspond to differences in health, behavior, and evolutionary fitness.
My research program is driven by two central questions:
1) How does response to and recovery from stressors translate into functional consequences for organismal behavior, life history trade-offs, health, and fitness?
2) How do individual variation and interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment alter physiological and behavioral responses to stressors?
Both questions aid in understanding animal life histories, ecological interactions, and evolutionary trade-offs, and are relevant to human health and disease. Additionally, just as different (field and methodological) perspectives contribute to the robustness of the stress concept, so too have perspectives shaped fields of science. Thus, I am keenly interested in the perspectives, positionalities, and field norms that influence how (biological) research is conducted, analyzed, interpreted, and disseminated.
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Riverside; Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology (EEOB), 2012
B.S., Ohio University, Athens, Ohio; Marine biology (major) with Spanish and chemistry (minors), Cum laude, 2005
Course Taught
Biol 120 – Organismal Biology (and lab)
Biol 401 – Stress Biology, Senior Seminar
Biol 340 – Animal Physiology
Prior to Lake Forest I taught the following: Human Reproduction and Sexual Behavior; General Endocrinology; Comparative Endocrinology; Brain, Behavior, and Hormones; Anatomy and Physiology II; Peer Mentoring in Human Physiology; Vertebrate Physiology
Honors and Awards
2025 Largest Impact on Student Learning and Experience, Recipient, Phi Beta Kappa, Texas Tech University.
2024 Apple Polishing Teaching Award, Recipient, Mortar Board, Texas Tech University.
2024 Distinguished Phenomenal Women of Texas Tech Award, Recipient, Texas Tech University.
2023 Apple Polishing Teaching Award, Recipient, Mortar Board, Texas Tech University.
2023 Excellence in Diversity Awards – Inclusive Education, Recipient, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University.
2023 Most Influential Teacher or Mentor at Texas Tech, Recipient, Phi Beta Kappa, Texas Tech University.
2020 Apple Polishing Teaching Award, Recipient, Mortar Board, Texas Tech University.
2020 President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, Recipient, Texas Tech University.
Grants
Our work has previously been funded by the National Institutes of Health (4x), the National Science Foundation (2x), and smaller foundations and internal competitions.
Articles
My lab has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and teaching case studies. A few highlights are listed below. For full publication list, please see my Google Scholar page (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Hv8jp00AAAAJ)
*Undergraduate student authors
Harris, B.N., Prater, C.M., Kennedy, A.*, Lockwood, R.*, Murtuza, M.G.*, Carr, J.A. (2025). Tectal CRF receptors modulate the behavioral response of Xenopus laevis to live prey but not visual prey cues. Hormones and Behavior, 175, 105801.
Harris, B.N., Lewis, A.K., Sharpe, S.L., Orr, T.J., Martine, C.T., Josefson, C.C. (2024). Incorporating sex-diverse and gender-inclusive perspectives into higher education biology courses. Integrative and Comparative Biology, icae054.
Harris, B.N., Josefson, C. 2024. Stress and Reproduction in Mammals. Invited book chapter for updated Hormones and Reproduction of Vertebrates – Mammals, edited by D.O. Norris and K. Lopez.
Harris, B.N., Yavari, M., Ramalingam, L., Mounce, P.L.*, Alers, K.*, Chavira, A.*, Thomas, S.*, Scoggin, S., Biltz, C.*, Moustaid-Moussa, N. (2024). Impact of long-term dietary eicosapentaenoic acid and high-fat diet on behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in amyloidogenic APPswe/PSEN1dE9 mice. Neuroendocrinology, 114, 553-576.
Harris, B.N. (2020). Stress hypothesis overload: 131 hypotheses exploring the role of stress in tradeoffs, transitions, and health. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 288, 113355.
Harris, B.N., McCarthy, P.C., Wright, A.M., Schutz, H., Boersma, K.S., Shepherd, S.L., Manning, L.A., Malisch, J.L., Ellington, R.M. (2020). From panic to pedagogy: Using online active learning to promote inclusive instruction in ecology and evolutionary biology courses and beyond. Ecology and Evolution, 10 (22), 12581-12612.
Malisch, J.L., Harris, B.N., Sherrer, S.M., Lewis, K.A., Shepherd, S.L., McCarthy, P.C., Spott, J.L., Karam, E.P., Moustaid-Moussa, N., Calarco, J.M., Ramalingam, L., Talley, A.E., Canas-Carrell, J.E., Ardon-Dryer, K., Weiser, D.A., Bernal, X.E., Deitloff, J. (2020). Opinion: In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solutions to ensure gender equity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117, 15378-15381.
Harris, B.N., de Jong, T.R., Yang, V.*, Saltzman, W. (2013). Chronic variable stress in fathers alters paternal and social behavior but not pup development in the biparental California mouse (Peromyscus californicus). Hormones and Behavior, 64, 799-811.
Harris, B.N., Saltzman, W., de Jong, T.R., Milnes, M.R. (2012). HPA function in the California mouse (Peromyscus californicus): Changes in baseline activity, reactivity, and fecal excretion of corticosterone across the diurnal cycle. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 179, 436-450.
Miranda Nunez, A.*, Aguilar, X.G.*, Harris, B.N. (2026). No Plan B for Med Ed: abortifacient or emergency contraceptives?. National Science Teaching Association Case Study Database, published online 3/12/2026.
Harris, B.N., Morah, J.*, Nunez-Miranda, A.*, Aguilar, X.G.*, Hendrix, J., Saltzman, W. (2025). Sex, contraception, and high school. National Science Teaching Association case study database, published online 6/30/2025.
Neumann, R.*, Quinn, C.*, Whitaker, B.*, Woyton, S*, Harris, B.N. (2016). All or Nothing?: A case study in muscle contraction. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, published online 9/29/2016.