Broadly speaking, I am interested in the interactions between organisms and their environment in the context of global ocean change. Many of the questions I ask relate to the biological impacts of global ocean change on individual organisms, from proteins to cells to the entire organism. In my research, I primarily focus questions on two specific taxa: the estuarine sea anemone Nematostella vectensis and the deep-sea coral Flabellum impensum. I also collaborate with the Cordes Lab at Temple University and the Waller Lab at the University of Maine on current projects with deep-sea corals along the U.S. Atlantic margin and within the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and Antarctica.
Photos taken from organisms we study in the lab: the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (L); the deep-sea Antarctic coral Flabellum impensum (M); and a calcified sclerite from the deep-sea octocoral Callogorgia delta (R). Photo credits: Hanae Togami [Haverford College '19] (L); Zee Evans [U.S. Antarctic Program] (M); Rina Rosnow [Haverford College '19, 2018 KINSC Scientific Imaging Award 1st Place Prize] (R).