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Dr. Christine Lalonde

Photo of Christine Lalonde
Assistant Professor / Faculty of Arts and Science - Psychology, Sociology, Child and Family Studies and Social Welfare - Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Science - Psychology, Sociology, Child and Family Studies and Social Welfare - Psychology
Position
Full-time Faculty
Extension
4163
Website
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About
Dr. Lalonde was a first-generation student from rural Newfoundland, where she was a town mayor prior to moving to Northern Ontario in 2010.  Since 2023, she was the Director of Health Services for Nipissing First Nation, where she directed the planning, implementation, and evaluation of 20 health care programs and services.   Dr. Lalonde is actively involved in community and academic service ranging from Speaker of Senate to a volunteer firefighter.

Fellowships:
- Mitacs Industrial Accelerate Post-Doctoral Fellowship: SNOLAB and Bruce Power
- NASA's STAR (Spaceflight, Technology, Applications, and Research) Program
Education
BBA, Memorial University of Newfoundland
BSc (Honours), Nipissing University
MSc, Laurentian University
PhD, Laurentian University
Research
  • Indigenous Mental Health: Investigating mental health needs of Indigenous children and youth, developing culturally relevant interventions, and fostering community partnerships.
  • Fetal Programming and Epigenetics: Examining the effects of prenatal exposure to stressors (e.g., residential school trauma, discrimination, toxins) on mental health, with a focus on epigenetic effects and transgenerational trauma.
  • Radiation Research: Exploring the biological impacts of low-dose and natural background radiation, including effects on behavior, neural development, and genetics.
  • Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR): Engaging Indigenous communities as active partners in all stages of the research process.
  • Toxicology: Investigating toxicology and stress responses in fetal neural development.
Publications

Sreetharan S, Puukila S, Lalonde C, Pirkkanen J, Woloschak GE, Paunesku T, Brooks AL, McNeill FE, Thome C, Boreham DR, Lees SJ, Tharmalingam S, Tai TC. Comparison of Acute and Protracted Gamma Irradiation Effects During Perinatal Development in Beagle Dogs. Radiat Res. 2025 Feb 1;203(2):73-82. doi: 10.1667/RADE-24-00080.1. PMID: 39848282.

Jameus A, Dougherty J, Narendrula R, Levert D, Valiquette M, Pirkkanen J, Lalonde C, Bonin P, Gagnon JD, Appanna VD, Tharmalingam, S., Thome, C. (2024). Acute Impacts of Ionizing Radiation Exposure on the Gastrointestinal Tract and Gut Microbiome in Mice. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 25(6):3339. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25063339

Lalonde, C., Arnocky, S., (2023). Religion and Domestic Violence. In Shackelford, T., Vance, G., Meehan, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence. Springer, Cham.

Lalonde C, Sreetharan S, Murray A, Stoa L, Cybulski ME, Kennedy A, Landry N, Stillar A, Khurana S, Tharmalingam S, Wilson J, Khaper N, Lees SJ, Boreham D, Tai T.C. (2023). Absence of Depressive and Anxious Behavior with Genetic Dysregulation in Adult C57Bl/6J Mice after Prenatal Exposure to Ionizing Radiation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 24(10):8466. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24108466

Pirkkanen J, Lalonde C, Lapointe M, Laframboise T, Mendonca MS, Boreham DR, Tharmalingam S, Thome C. (2023). The REPAIR Project, a Deep-Underground Radiobiology Experiment Investigating the Biological Effects of Natural Background Radiation: The First 6 Years. Radiation Research. doi: 10.1667/RADE-22-00193.1. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36745561.

Lalonde C, Boreham D, Tai T.C. (2023). Fetal Programming of Brain and Behavior through Ionizing Radiation. Stresses. 2023; 3(1):198-209. https://doi.org/10.3390/stresses3010015

Rivet T.R., Lalonde C, Tai T.C. (2022). Gene Dysregulation in the Adult Rat Paraventricular Nucleus and Amygdala by Prenatal Exposure to Dexamethasone. Life, 12(7):1077. https://doi.org/10.3390/life12071077

Murray A., Tharmalingam S., Khurana S., Lalonde C., Nguyen P., Tai T.C. (2022) Effect of Prenatal Glucocorticoid Exposure on Circadian Rhythm Gene Expression in the Brains of Adult Rat Offspring. Cells. 11(10):1613. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11101613

Lalonde, C., Grandbois, J., Khurana, S., Murray, A., Tharmalingam, S., & Tai, T.C. (2021). Late gestational exposure to dexamethasone and fetal programming of abnormal behavior in Wistar Kyoto rats. Brain and Behavior, 11: e02049. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2049

Lalonde, C., Arnocky, S. (2021) Behavioral Genomics. Vonk, J., Shackelford T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behaviour. Springer, Cham

Murray, A., Khurana, S., Lalonde, C., Tharmalingam, S., Nguyen, P., Tai, T.C. (2020). Effect of Prenatal Glucocorticoid Exposure on Circadian Rhythm Gene Expression in the Brains of Adult Rat Offspring. The FASEB Journal, 34: 1-1. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.04353

Lalonde, C. (2018) Fetal Development. In Arnocky, S., Weekes-Shackelford V., Shackelford T., Weekes-Shackelford V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham

Lalonde, C. (2018) Hypertension. In Arnocky, S., Weekes-Shackelford V., Shackelford T., Weekes-Shackelford V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham

Lalonde, C. (2018) Sleep-Wake Cycles. In Arnocky, S., Weekes-Shackelford V., Shackelford T., Weekes-Shackelford V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham