Eva-Maria Collins

Eva-Maria Collins is Associate Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College with adjunct appointments in Neuroscience at University of Pennsylvania and Physics at UC San Diego. She directs interdisciplinary research on physical principles in biological systems, focusing on biomechanics, neurotoxicology, and neuroethology using planarian and Hydra model organisms.

Her lab investigates regeneration mechanics, developmental neurotoxicology of pesticides, and statistical physics of asexual reproduction. Collins pioneered freshwater planarians as high-throughput models for neurotoxicity screening, developing novel platforms for chemical assessment.

Recent publications (2015-2023) establish planarians as alternative toxicology models, characterize organophosphorus pesticide effects, and develop multi-dimensional screening approaches. Her work integrates quantitative biology with environmental health applications.

Collins received the Toxicological Sciences Paper of the Year (2019) and Society of Toxicology Faculty Research Grant (2021). She leads NIH/NSF-funded projects on neurotoxicology and biomechanics, mentoring over 80 undergraduates.