CURRENT PROJECTS
ECo-NC: Estuarine Connectivity via 'omics Across NC
Fish kill observed at the Albemarle Sound sample site of the time series (July 2025) during collection of DNA, RNA & metabolite samples.
Algal Competition Across a Tropical Freshwater Continuum
Colleague Dr. George Bullerjahn (BGSU) collecting samples in the Nyanza Gulf of Lake Victoria, Kenya during the November 2025 cruise.
Drivers of Diatom Fitness Across the Polar-Marine Continuum
This project is funded by the NSF Oceans Science Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2024-2026). Diatoms within iron-limited, polar regions (e.g., Southern Ocean) were found to uniquely possess proton-pumping rhodopsins (PPRs): light-harvesting proteins which serve as alternatives to classical photosynthesis which use the pigment retinal (instead of chlorophyll a) to generate ATP via a proton pumping gradient. While the discovery of PPRs has rewritten the textbook definition of primary production, the prevalence of these PPRs in diatoms and the factors that constrain their function are largely unknown. We seek to deduce how various environmental factors shape the transcription and physiology of polar diatoms - ultimately shaping their competitive fitness. This is a collaborative project with co-PIs from UNC Chapel Hill.
Microscopy image of a polar diatom (Fragilariopsis spp.) isolated from Southern Ocean samples by colleague Margarita Lankford (UNC CH).
This project is funded by the DOE Joint Genome Institute Community Sequencing Program's New Investigator Award (2026-2029). Coastal estuaries are dynamic, brackish systems that receive the biology and biogeochemistry of inland, terrestrial fresh waters – constituting the coastal estuarine continuum. Despite their importance, estuaries remain poorly studied, with limited molecular baselines constraining predictions of future ecosystem function. This multi ‘omics time series from the nation’s second largest estuary - the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound - will establish foundational baselines of the microbial interactions that drive biogeochemical cycling along the freshwater-brackish interface and reveal how environmental variability serves to shape these processes in present and future scenarios. This is a collaborative project with co-PIs from UNC Chapel Hill, NCSU and UNCW.
This project is funded by the NSF Advanced Studies Institute on Water Quality & Harmful Algal Blooms in Lake Victoria, Kenya (2022-2025). Seasonal Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are widely studied in large lakes from the Global North. Yet, lakes from the Global South are also prone to HABs – often on an annual basis due to their proximity to the equator. These lakes allow us to glimpse into the "climatically-altered future" of a warmer water column. In November 2025, we conducted multi 'omic sampling across the Nyanza Gulf of Lake Victoria (Kenya) - the second largest lake on Earth. These multi 'omic samples will be used to deduce the drivers which constrain algal competition in a tropical freshwater continuum and hypothesize how competition in temperate Great Lakes may change in the warmer, future water column. This is a collaborative project with co-PIs from BGSU, U Windsor, and UNCW.