Christy Haynes


Christy Lynn Haynes is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Minnesota. She works at the interface of immunology, materials science, chemistry and toxicology.

Early life and education

Haynes was born in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1977. She completed her undergraduate work at Macalester College, in 1998 with a major in Chemistry and minors in Mathematics and Spanish. She completed her postbaccalaureate work at Northwestern University completing a master's degree in 1999 and a Ph.D. in 2003 under the direction of Richard P. Van Duyne. She also earned a Post Doctorate at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2005. Her dissertation, "Fundamentals and Applications of Nanoparticle Optics and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering," demonstrated how Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy could be used as a small molecule biosensor. She was awarded the Northwestern University prize for Excellence in Graduate Research in 2002. She has described Hilary Godwin, then Professor at Northwestern University, as one of her influences.

Research

After her PhD, Haynes worked with Mark Wightman as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here she worked on microelectrode amperometry to study single-cell exocytosis. Haynes joined the University of Minnesota in 2005 as an assistant professor. Her lab, the , apply analytical chemistry and nanomaterials to biomedicine, ecology and toxicology. Nanoparticles are increasingly being used in manufacturing, which will result in them ending up in the ecosystem with unknown consequences. The Haynes group look to determine the molecular design rules for nanoparticle toxicity, through material design and fabrication and characterisation both in the lab and in the food web. They characterise chemical messenger synthesis and exocytosis using laser spectroscopy and microelectrochemistry. In 2012 her group were the first ever to successfully isolate individual blood platelets. In 2013 her research was discussed on Minnesota Public Radio. She was promoted to full professor in 2014, became the Elmore H. Northey Professor of Chemistry in 2015, and is currently the associate Head of Department of Chemistry. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in scientific papers.
In 2017 she delivered a TED talk, "Nanomaterials are everwhere; how do we make them safe?". In 2018 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which enables her to work in the Technical University of Valencia characterising nanomaterials in an environmental matrix. Haynes was also named in The Analytical Scientist Power List in 2019. She is a lead presenter for the University of Minnesota Energy and U program, which brings over ten thousand third grade students to her campus each year. Haynes is an advocate for increased diversity in the chemical sciences. She takes part in outreach activities to encourage young people to consider careers in chemistry.

Honors and awards