CURRENT POSITION

2016-        Postdoctoral  Researcher
present         Pennsylvania  State  University
                                   Advisor: 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 processes and molecular pathways involved in an organism with their environment or microbial symbionts.

My postdoctoral research in the Baums Lab explores coral hybridization as an adaptive mechanism to global climate change. Specifically, I'm investigating the reproductive barriers between two species and recent or historical breaches of those barriers using genomic data. My project involve genomic sequencing, population structure and admixture analyses to characterize the hybridization of Caribbean Acroporids.

Acropora spawning, 2016

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 critical for the maintenance of the partnership, however these processes are 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 sp.

Karenia brevis