Dr. Kirstin Brink

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba in the Department of Geological Sciences and Adjunct Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden, MB. I am a vertebrate palaeontologist interested in the evolution and development of teeth and bones, specifically tissue structure and growth rates, and the relationship between structure, growth, and animal ecology.

My research involves the use of living animal models to understand how extinct animals grew and interacted with their environment. I have worked with living reptiles (e.g. leopard geckos and green anoles), and fossils of non-mammalian synapsids (e.g., Dimetrodon), dinosaurs (e.g. Tyrannosaurus rex and Hypacrosaurus stebingeri), plants (Cunninghamia hornbyensis), and trackways (Ichniotherium). I use histology, microscopy, Computed Tomography (CT scans), Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Transmission Electron Microscopy to address my research.