Experience

Wrote and secured funding through the Link Foundation (~$160,000) to support research using multiomic tools to identify candidate biological vectors of a coral parasite associated with increased bleaching
and disease susceptibility.

• Led extended field expeditions in remote locations in Panama, the Cayman Islands, and South Florida in collaboration with Smithsonian, academic, and NOAA researchers.
• Wrote and secured over $300,000 in grant and award funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Dean’s
  Research Award, and the Central Caribbean Marine Institute Bogue Swim Scholarship.
• Conducted comprehensive metagenomic analyses of coral holobionts using R and HPC resources on the UF HiperGator supercomputer cluster.
• Developed and tested novel coral probiotics and engineered coral and crab microbiomes to better characterize microbial transmission dynamics between corals and epibiotic symbionts.
• Designed and built mesocosm systems (340 total liters) to lead controlled aquarium experiments to test horizontal transmission of beneficial coral bacteria.
• Built an automated coral reef imaging pipeline using the imaging software CoralNet to characterize
  benthic community diversity and quantify shifts across depth and dissolved oxygen gradients.

• Managed a molecular and microbial ecology lab focusing on coral disease ecology and seagrass
  microbiomes.
• Supervised laboratory research and trained new students (Ph.D. and undergraduate students) in DNA and RNA extraction, Illumina sequencing library preparation, aseptic technique, and hazardous waste management.
• Built and operated a mesocosm system (190 liters) to run experiments on stony corals and Aiptasia.
• Assessed the effectiveness of field applied experimental probiotic treatments for diseased corals by
  quantifying probiotic strain colonization using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) and 16S rRNA amplicon
  sequencing.
• Investigated the underlying microbial contributions of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in Caribbean coral species in collaboration with the Florida Department of Environment Protection, NOAA, and the Smithsonian Marine Station.
• Developed and optimized bioinformatic workflows to evaluate coral-probiotic interactions using metagenomic and coral physiology data to generate insights for coral disease mitigation strategies.
• Prepared technical figures, interpreted microbial datasets, and contributed to Florida DEP scientific reports to support the development of coral conservation strategies at the state level.

• Collaborated with interdisciplinary teams from the University of Florida, Georgia Tech, and Florida Atlantic University to identify potential pathogens and test probiotic treatments against stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in both aquarium and in situ reef environments.
• Extracted and characterized secondary metabolites from healthy and diseased coral tissues using chemical fractionation techniques to support efforts in identifying coral-derived chemical compounds and their role in coral disease resistance or disease lesion progression.
• Processed coral mucus and tissues for microbiome analyses to identify microbial shifts linked to SCTLD progression and resistance.