Posted on September 4, 2026 by College of Sciences
#ThisIsWhatAScientistLooksLike
Krystal Goyins, Developmental and Regenerative Sciences Ph.D. Student
By Christina Calvo
As a native San Antonian with a lifelong curiosity of the natural world, Krystal Goyins knew that UT San Antonio was the place where she could grow as an academic, a scientist, and a researcher. Having earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology and her Master's Degree in Biotechnology at UT San Antonio, she chose to keep running with us here to pursue her PhD in Developmental and Regenerative Sciences.
"Going into my PhD, I knew that I wanted to do reproduction-related research," said Krystal. "UT San Antonio has a lot of amazing reproductive biologists and is really committed to serving their community, which I've always really liked."
Over the last four years of Krystal's PhD program, she has been heavily involved in the university community. The past two years she has served as a co-representative for Developmental and Regenerative Sciences PhD Students. She assists in mentoring undergraduate students in lab spaces. She has been a guest lecturer for undergraduate molecular biology and a panelist for a Women in STEM panel. Additionally, she often serves as a volunteer judge at local middle and high school science fairs.
Krystal was recently awarded the F31 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Individual Fellowship. This prestigious three-year grant provides stipend support and funds for research and education opportunities. Krystal currently works and studies under Lacy Barton, PhD, to discover how hormones, specifically juvenile hormones, contribute to fertility. In Barton's lab, they work with the Drosophila melanogaster, or the common fruit-fly.
"Our research will help us to further uncover how hormones in fruit flies are specifically regulated to promote fertility, which has implications in humans as well," Krystal explained.
While insects are the focus of Krystal's research, the study of hormones and fertility are transferable across multiple animal species.
In addition to the grant providing resources for research within the university, Krystal is also using the fellowship to advance her education. This summer, Krystal is taking an advanced microscopy course at the Marine Biology Laboratory in Massachusetts. This intensive course teaches technical microscope skills such as optical physics, sample preparation, and digital image processing to capture specific data.
Krystal credits the many mentors she has had in her time at UT San Antonio for her growth as a scholar and researcher.
"When I was choosing a lab to join for my PhD, I was told that the subject you study doesn't matter and to choose a lab based on the mentor. Now, I couldn't agree more," said Krystal.
"I believe that any subject can become interesting once you learn a lot about it, which is why choosing based on the mentor is the most important part about choosing a lab. Each mentor has a different way of teaching, and mentor style certainly isn't one size that fits all."
Krystal is passionate about the scientific process and being a mentor for future scientists. She highlights the resilience and perseverance that comes with the scientific process.
"You have to be prepared to work exceptionally hard and face many, many failed experiments," said Krystal, "It's a process that tests your character as much as it tests your knowledge, but it is rewarding in many ways. To get through the many hard days, the most important thing is to love day-to-day and to hold on to that curiosity and passion for science."
When Krystal completes her PhD, she hopes to become a professor and principal investigator of her own lab that can teach students at the undergraduate level.
— College of Sciences
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