Fourth of July Weekend Updates

Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

"An undergrad, Sarah Shainker, who is in the lab for the summer on a HHMI fellowship, and I just returned from a 9 day, 2500 mile and 25 site collection trip in VA, MD and DE.  We are now processing all the seaweeds we collected, meaning we are beginning to extract DNA and then Sarah and I will be embarking on a joint effort.  Sarah will be sequencing a single gene marker called cox 1 as well as doing some restriction enzyme work (basically chopping up the DNA into smaller pieces in which some samples get chopped one way and other samples get chopped another way).  I will be tackling the genotyping of all the specimens with microsatellite markers (the same markers used in forensics and paternity cases in humans).  My immediate goals will be to round up all the worldwide samples we have to finish off their genotyping and then get cracking on the new samples!

Next week another undergrad, Connon Thomas, and I will be headed as far south as Beaufort and as far north as Myrtle Beach to sample more Gracilaria for his Research Experience for Undergraduate summer project!"

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Alyssa Demko

Sea urchin used in feeding assays.

"I am currently in the process of conducting choice feeding assays on the urchins and crabs. So far I have tested four temperate seaweeds, one antarctic seaweed, and one tropical seaweed. I have a total of 35 seaweeds in house and one of our collaborators (Dr. Mark Hay at Georgia Tech) is going to be sending us approximately 10 more Fijian seaweeds soon which is exciting!

I also spent some time this past week learning how to distinguish between amphipod species so I can collect enough of one kind to do feeding assays with them as well.

Additionally, I have been helping Hannah (our high school student) learn how to determine ash-free dry mass and protein content in Gracilaria vermiculophylla as part of her summer project." 

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Nicole Kollars

Nicole has finished up her master's degree, meaning her research at the Sotka Lab has come to an end. She is moving on to her next scientific journey and we wish her the best of luck! 

Courtney Gerstenmaier

"I am setting up my experiment again.  So, I have been going out into the field and collecting Gracilaria and then bringing it back to the lab to removing all the epiphytes (plants) and epifauna (animals) that are on it.  Then I am breaking it into equal weight pieces and stringing it on to ropes so that I can redeploy the algae and not lose it!"