CURRENT POSITION

2018-        Postdoctoral Researcher 
present    California Institute of Technology
                                   Mentor: Dr. Joseph Parker

PREVIOUS POSITION

2016-       Postdoctoral  Researcher
2018          Pennsylvania State University
                                   Mentor: Dr. Iliana B. Baums

EDUCATION

2016         Ph.D.  Zoology                               
                     Oregon State University
                                    Advisor: Dr. Virginia M. Weis
2010        M.S. Marine Biology                     
                    University of North Carolina at Wilmington
                                     Advisor: Dr. Alison R. Taylor
2007        B.S. Marine Biology with Honors                 
                    University of North Carolina at Wilmington 
                                     Advisor (Honors): Dr. Richard A. Satterlie   

ABOUT ME

I am broadly interested in understanding cellular, molecular and evolutionary processes involved in the interactions between organisms and their environment.

My current work in the Parker Lab investigates the evolution of the defensive gland in rove beetles that is the hypothesized to be the pre-adaptation for symbiotic lifestyle in this group. I am also looking for patterns of convergence of the ant-loving (myrmecophiles) rove beetles in their genomes. Through this project, I assembled a chromosome-level genome of the emerging model system, Dalotia coriaria. 

Collecting our favorite myrmecophile, Sceptobius lativentris, photo: David Miller

Acropora spawning 2016. Photo: David Gross

My postdoctoral research in the Baums Lab explored coral hybridization as an adaptive mechanism to global climate change. Specifically, I investigated the reproductive barriers between two species and breaches of those barriers using genomic data. My project involved genomic sequencing, population structure and admixture analyses to characterize the hybridization of Caribbean acroporids.

My Ph. D. research in the Weis lab at Oregon State University centered on investigating changes in cell signaling processes of cnidarians during symbiont uptake and loss. The communication between the cnidarian host and its endosymbiotic algae is still poorly understood. My projects aimed to link symbiosis onset and breakdown, both cellular processes orchestrated by the partner communication, to changes in the host transcription, signaling and physiology. Furthermore, I investigated the potential role of signaling lipids as cell fate determinants and mediators of mutualistic host-microbe interactions. 

In 2010, I received my Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Wilmington under the direction of  Dr. Alison Taylor. My thesis project explored the role of brevetoxins as an allelopathic mechanism between the prolific harmful algae species,  Karenia brevis  and other non-toxic phytoplankton. I completed my B.S. in Marine Biology with Honors from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2007, where I studied the innervation of dorsoventral muscles in the pteropod mollusc, Clione limacina, in regulating wing stiffness during swim acceleration. 

Exaiptasia pallida

Karenia brevis