Excited and grateful, earlier this month I started my INTERN Fellowship, allowing me to spend the next three months working on elucidating relationships of bacteria and coral at the USGS - Honolulu Field Station under the mentorship of Dr. Thierry Works and his amazing team!

🌊🦠 Excited to share our latest findings on Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis! Our research reveals how sympatric habitats serve as reservoirs for the pathogenic ciliate. We also explore possibilities for resurgence and associated microbes.

www.int-res.com/articles/mep...

Dive deeper on the results and learn more about our work on Diadematidae mass mortality and how environmental microbiomes compare when the disease is replicated in laboratory conditions. 🌊🦠
Big thank you to all the incredible collaborators who made this work possible (8/8)

💡 Understanding microbiome changes due to pathogens like DSc is vital to developing strategies that protect marine ecosystems. Our research sheds light on the mechanisms behind host-pathogen interactions! (7/8)

🌍 Well, yes, we found that Echinothrix diadema from Réunion Island share high representation of F. hongkongensis! Suggesting that these findings have broader ecological implications. And this bacterium could be environmentally associated with the pathogenic ciliate. (6/8)

🔍 Our analysis revealed that F. hongkongensis might serve as a bacterial biomarker for detecting DSc in environmental samples from the Caribbean. But would it be consistent with the disease in disparate geographical locations? (5/8)

Major finding! We show that DSc-affected urchins exhibit significantly lower taxonomic richness compared to healthy counterparts. Moreover, DSc-affected urchins showed a greater representation of Fangia hongkongensis and Psychrobium spp. 🏖️ 🌊 🦠 (4/8)

Our study aimed to understand how the urchin microbiome differs between healthy and DSc-affected specimens. We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to analyze tissue samples from various locations including the Caribbean and Réunion Island. (3/8)

🌍 In Spring 2022, the Caribbean faced mass mortality of Diadema antillarum due to D. antillarum scuticociliatosis (DaSc) due to a pathogenic ciliate within the Philaster clade (DScPc). This disease has now spread broadly, affecting urchins in other areas of the world🦠 (2/8)

🧵 Exciting Research Alert! 🌊🚨 Our latest study investigates the impact of Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis (DSc) on the microbiome of sea urchins! Here are some key findings.
#MarineScience #Microbiome #SeaUrchins

(1/8)

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

We also examined its recruitment to corals in aquaria, its potential for reemergence into naive diadema and its presence in coral specimens and the water column prior to the DaSc outbreak. Excellent collaboration between multiple institutions and countries!

Excited to announce the publication of our latest work on the Diadema scuticociliatosis pathogen. Here we examined its presence in environmental reservoirs, finding that it is primarily associated with the coral Siderastrea spp. www.int-res.com/abstracts/me...

🌊🦠 Excited to share our latest findings on Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis! Our research reveals how sympatric habitats serve as reservoirs for the pathogenic ciliate. We also explore possibilities for resurgence and associated microbes.

www.int-res.com/articles/mep...

#microbiology #marinemicro #invertebrates #marinebio

Hello world, introducing myself to this new app. I am a second year Microbiology PhD student @ cornell. I work at the Cornell Marine Mass Mortality Lab, my research focuses on sea urchin mass morality event and the pathogenic ciliate culprit. Many pictures to come on from all our travel and work.