CURRENT LAB MEMBERS
Principal Investigator
Blake Ushijima, Ph.D.
Email: <ushijimab@uncw.edu>
Dr. Ushijima is formerly from Hawaiʻi and received his Ph.D. at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Microbiology working on bacterial pathogens that infect corals. His work focused on novel coral pathogens with an emphasis on the pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus, which infects a variety of corals and marine invertebrates. He continued as a postdoc at Oregon State University working on bacterial oyster pathogens and probiotics. He was then awarded the George Burch Research Fellowship to work at the Smithsonian Marine Station studying stony coral tissue loss disease and was one of the lead investigators for the Coral Health and Marine Probiotics (CHAMP) Lab. During his time at the Smithsonian, he worked on developing probiotics to combat the outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) spreading throughout the Caribbean. In Fall 2020, he accepted an Assistant Professor position at UNCW.
Courses Taught:
- BIO 330 General Microbiology Lecture (Spring only)
- BIOL 330 General Microbiology Lab (Coordinator Spring & Fall)
- BIO 484/585 Molecular & Microbiology Methods (Fall only)
Postdoctoral Researchers
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Jordan Ruiz-Toquica
Started Fall 2024
Dr. Ruiz-Toquica is from Colombia and pursued a Ph.D. in Marine Sciences at the Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano working on coral probiotics and coral microbiomes. His work is focused on the development of probiotics for corals to improve holobiont physiological and microbiome response under heat-stress conditions as well as the study of the microbiome dynamics of resistant corals such as Madracis auretenra. He has a master’s in microbiology from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a degree in Marine Biology. In the past, he worked with microbial communities associated with the green seaweed Ulva lactuca exploring biotechnological potential and with beneficial bacteria enhancing growth performance and survival in white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei larvae. In Fall 2024, he was awarded with a position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of North Carolina Wilmington UNCW and The Ushijima Lab. During this time, he expects to contribute to the development of a probiotic treatment to protect corals from stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) as part of the CORDAP’s project ‘Giving Caribbean corals a future: SCTLD and the use of probiotics in coral restoration projects.’
Laboratory Researchers
Research Specialist
&
Laboratory Manager
Tori Jefferson, M.Sc.
Started Fall 2023
Tori Jefferson accepted a research specialist position at the Ushijima lab in August of 2023. She is analyzing DNA and RNA sequencing samples from Hawaiian corals to investigate changes in microbiome structure. Her undergraduate degrees are in Environmental and Marine Sciences from North Carolina State University. There she worked in Dr. Eric Miller and Dr. Scott Vu’s lab on protein production, translational frame shifting, and phage genomics. After gaining valuable molecular skills, she went to work in Dr. Astrid Schnetzer’s lab researching harmful algal blooms and algal toxins. Tori then moved to Southern California where she worked as wildlife biologist for the forest service researching threatened and endangered species. Tori is finishing her masters at the University of North Carolina Wilmington on freshwater diazotrophs. Her thesis is focused on nitrogen fixation and nutrient limitations.
Research Analyst
&
Probiotics Project Coordinator
Margaret Walter, M.Sc.
Started Spring 2024
Margaret completed her master’s in the Ushijima Lab in December 2023. Her work focused on developing a high-throughput probiotic discovery pipeline by integrating biomedical automation to rapidly isolate and screen probiotic candidates for coral disease treatment. Probiotics found using this pipeline are now being tested on corals for efficacy. She hopes that this pipeline sets the stage for rapid treatment discovery for SCTLD and other future disease outbreaks. One of the most exciting outcomes of the project is the wide adaptability of this probiotic platform – it has currently been adapted to numerous other research projects across the drug discovery and microbiology fields. She looks forward to continuing to support innovation in either the biotechnology or marine technology fields!
Graduate Students
PhD Student
Erin Papke
Started Spring 2021
Erin is originally from Pittsburgh, PA, but wanted to pursue marine biology by attending the University of Delaware. During undergrad, she worked in Dr. Mark Warner's lab studying harmful algal blooms and became interested in research and attending graduate school. After her graduation in 2018, Erin participated in a Coral Restoration Internship and an REU at Mote Marine Lab in the Florida Keys. While there, she researched growth impacts on coral and expanded her coral and research experience. After Florida, Erin moved back to Pittsburgh to work in a pulmonology microbial and molecular lab at the University of Pittsburgh. This experience expanded her knowledge of disease mechanisms and encouraged her to combine her passions of disease and coral research together, ultimately leading to the Ushijima lab.
PhD student
Elizabeth (Liz) Weatherup
Started Fall 2023
Liz is originally from rural Georgia but became interested in marine science at a young age through sailing and visiting aquariums. She obtained her B.S. in marine science from Eckerd College in 2019. During that time, she was an intern at Mote Marine Laboratories and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and cultivated an interest in genetics and coral disease. After graduation, she worked at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, FL developing probiotic treatments for stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) and studied different strains of the coral pathogen, Vibrio coralliilyticus; focusing on how these pathogenic strains were able to co-infect corals already suffering from SCTLD. She then was accepted into the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and William & Mary to pursue her master’s degree. Her thesis was focused on the oyster parasite’s, Perkinsus marinus, population genetic structure on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico and current parasite intensity levels and mortality levels in the host, Crassostrea virginica, in the York River. She is now a Ph.D. student in the Ushijima Lab studying coral disease, microbiology, and genetics.
PhD Student
Colleen Shortal
Started Fall 2024
Colleen is originally from Michigan, where she developed her fondness for nature through camping trips to the Great Lakes. She earned her B.S. in zoology from Michigan State University where she completed internships in wildlife medicine and rehabilitation. Post graduation, Colleen started scuba diving. This led her to intern in the Coral Reproduction Lab at Mote on Summerland Key. While there, she managed the population of coral recruits and a project quantifying larval success in the presence of oxybenzone. She then completed her M.S. in marine biology through Northeastern University’s Three Seas Program, during which she was able to do research in Massachusetts, Washington, and Panama. Colleen was then granted the Link Foundation Graduate Fellowship at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, FL. She carried out her master’s thesis project investigating the role of bacterial quorum sensing in the virulence of stony coral tissue loss disease. She stayed at SMS after graduating as a member of the Coral Health and Marine Probiotics Lab to research changes to coral microbiomes during disease progression. She is now a Ph.D. student in the Ushijima Lab at UNCW.
PhD Student
Kiah Gongaware
Started Fall 2024
I am originally from Vail, Colorado, where I grew up on a farm, raising livestock, exploring the outdoors, and skiing in the winter. My love for science emerged from my experience with cancer at a very young age, which introduced me to a fascinating new world to discover.
I earned my B.S. in Biology from Colorado State University. During this time, I interned at Mote Marine Laboratory in the summers of 2022 and 2023, where I fell in love with marine science, specifically focusing on coral health and disease. In 2022, I worked with Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, investigating whether sediment could be a potential reservoir for the disease to transmit to healthy coral. In 2023, I continued working with sediment, testing it as a possible coral stressor. This research focused on determining species-specific sediment clearance rates and changes in photochemical efficiency after short-term sedimentation stress exposure. This experience at Mote opened my eyes to new possibilities and led me to pursue my Ph.D. in Marine Biology with the Ushijima lab.
Undergraduate Students
TBD For Fall 2024
FORMER LAB MEMBERS
Graduate Students
MS Student
Yesmarie De La Flor
Expected Graduation Fall 2024
Yesmarie, native to Puerto Rico but raised on the southeast coast of Florida, has long appreciated the importance of marine life and ecosystems. Her first research experience as an undergraduate at Indian River State College was on the Citrus Greening Project with the USDA where she examined the role of immune pathways involved in bacterial-host interactions through genomic annotation of the citrus greening vector Diaphorina citri. After graduating with a bachelor’s in biology, she participated in the Latino Internship to Fellowship Program and was introduced to coral disease research while working at the Smithsonian Marine Station. In the Coral Health and Marine Probiotics Lab at SMS, Yesmarie focused on isolating and developing probiotics to treat corals afflicted by SCTLD. During her time at SMS, she realized her passion for disease pathology and curiosity for microbes and how they impact the ecosystems around us, prompting her to pursue a master’s in biology at UNCW working in the Ushijima Lab. Through her research, Yesmarie hopes to be an ally in reef restoration, to preserve and protect the ocean and its habitats, and be a voice that amplifies diversity and inclusion in STEM.
MS Student
Sukanya Dayal
Graduated Summer 2024
Sukanya became involved with marine conservation research as an undergraduate student at Cornell University. Sukanya worked with Dr. Drew Harvell in the Pacific Northwest to conduct in-situ field surveys to document seagrass wasting disease prevalence and severity over time. Following her graduation, she spent two years as a lab technician working for Dr. Colleen Burge at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore, MD, where she researched the effects of Ostreid Herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) microvariants on juvenile Pacific Oysters. Now a M.S. student in the Ushijima Lab, Sukanya is excited to study coral disease and microbiology to explore how human activity impacts ocean health.
MS Student
Margaret Walter
Graduated Fall 2023
Margaret is a master’s student in the Marine Biology program at UNCW. As an RA in Dr. Ushijima’s lab, she is conducting research on probiotic treatments for corals afflicted by stony coral tissue loss disease. From Vibrio to elephant seals, she is fascinated by everything—big and small—that resides in the ocean. As an undergraduate at Vassar College, she conducted her thesis work on coral genomics in Dr. Jodi Schwarz’s lab. Prior to graduate school she worked in the medical device industry, with a focus on ocular devices, for five years. In pursuing a Marine Biology graduate degree, she hopes to find innovative solutions to support ocean health (and shed all her landlubber ways).
M.Sc. Student
Aly Weber
(co-advised with Dr. Nikki Fogarty -webpage here)
Aly is a master’s student in the Marine Biology program at UNCW. Aly is originally from the landlocked state of Colorado, but she always found herself captivated by the marine environment. She chose to pursue marine biology and received her undergraduate degree from UNCW. After graduating in 2019, Aly worked as an education and coral research intern at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute and the Cape Eleuthera Institute. During this time she worked on coral restoration first hand and realized her true interest was in researching the coral microbiome. As a graduate student, Aly hopes to conduct research that will assist with coral restoration and conservation efforts, and work as a liaison to improve scientific communication within the broader community.
Undergraduate Students
DIS Student
Nia Kane
Spring 2024
Nia is a DIS student pursuing a degree in Biochemistry. Nia worked alongside Sukanya Dayal on her master's research project studying the effects of antibiotics on multiple genera of zooxanthellae. During her in-lab experience she learned microbiology techniques and gained experience operating laboratory equipment. Her goal is to conduct research in the field of pharmacology.
DIS STUDENT
Renii Holmes
(Spring 2023 - Fall 2023)
Renii is a DIS student gaining microbiology lab experience by helping prep for the general microbiology lab course. Previously, she assisted graduate students in the prep for their research, as well as conducted various assignments learning how to utilize laboratory equipment.
Honors Student
Andrew Bahhouth
(Spring 2022 - Spring 2023)
Andrew Bahhouth is studying how the interactions between Vibrio coralliilyticus and Vibrio cholerae vary based on the carbon sources they metabolize.
Honors STudent
Emily T.
(Fall 2022 - Spring 2023)
Emily is currently characterizing new Pacific probiotics that are used to protect corals from the bacterial pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus.
DIS Student
Annabel Burcham
(Fall 2022)
Annabel is a DIS student gaining experience working with a variety of different microbiology lab techniques and helping with the prep for the general microbiology lab course.
Honors Student
Natalie Snyder
(Fall 2021 - Spring 2022)
Undergraduate student Natalie Snyder is observing the effects of bacterial inoculation on Pseudodiploria clivosa larvae to determine if probiotic treatments can increase coral offspring survival rates in their earliest life stages. Co-advised with Dr. Nikki Fogarty.
Honors Student
Ryan Walsh
(Fall 2021 - Spring 2022)
Ryan Walsh is an undergraduate student conducting his honors thesis under the co-mentorship of Dr. Nicole Fogarty. His project aims to identify potentially beneficial bacteria (probiotics) to enhance Pseudodiploria clivosa coral recruit survivorship and growth in captivity during the early stages of development. This is a new, exciting approach for enhancing future captive coral rearing and restoration efforts.
DIS Student
Jennifer Pains
(Fall 2021)
Graduated Fall 2021
DIS Student
Jessica Loi
(Spring 2021 - Fall 2021)
Studying chemotaxis in the invertebrate pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus.
Graduated Fall 2021