Postdoctoral Fellows
Current
I originally graduated with a B.Sc. in Marine Biology and Oceanography from the University of Southampton at National Oceanography Centre, Southampton in the UK.
Following this, I worked as part of the Marine Environmental Programme at the Bermuda
Institute of Ocean Science (BIOS) conducting daily surveys of the island’s reefs as part of a continuing long-term survey monitoring both ecological diversity and water quality parameters.
Upon leaving BIOS I joined a photovoltaics engineering
start-up based out of Cambridge, UK. Although a divergence from research, it was in this position that I gained skills in informatics that facilitate my current research.
After my stint in industry I returned to academia completing an M.Sc. in
Aquatic Biology and Resource Management at the University of Exeter, UK. During this time I worked with Astra Zeneca’s Brixham Environmental Laboratory where I undertook research into the differences in metabolic capacity between strains of
Danio rerio.
Following this, I returned to the University of Southampton to complete my PhD. My research concerned the establishment of thermally tolerant corals from the Persian/Arabian gulf as model systems to better understand thermally
perturbed coral populations globally. After completing my PhD I continued my research as a post-doctoral research fellow placing particular emphasis on the characterization of the algal symbionts (genus Symbiodinium) associated within these
coral populations.
With coral communities increasingly under threat from climate-related stressors, amongst others, reef communities, in concert with the plethora of services they provide, are in decline on a global scale. My research interests lie in elucidating the mechanisms
by which these communities may adapt to environmental stressors. With an emphasis on the use of informatics, functional genomics, and experimental manipulations of holobiont components I will tackle specific aspects of the following wider questions:
● to what extent might shifts in the microbial components of the coral holobiont facilitate adaptation,
● how do these components interact with the coral host
● and to what degree may they modify the holobiont phenotype?
In resolving
these questions reef stakeholders may better predict reef trajectories and direct conservation efforts with maximal efficacy.