Over the summer I represented the department at two workshops: Genomic Enabled Modeling of Biology and Cystic Fibrosis: Ecology, Evolution, and Eradication. Both of these workshops were at the cutting edge of understanding how we can learn from microbes and affect what they are doing and how they do it. The former was focused very broadly on global climate change and the effect of microbes in disparate environments. The latter workshop was focused very narrowly on understanding the causes and problems with cystic fibrosis and bringing new science to bear on this incurable disease.
Later in the summer I took a group of students from SDSU and SIO in San Diego and from Brazilian research universities on a research expedition to the coral reefs off the north east coast of Brazil. The team of 15 researchers stayed on a boat for 10 days exploring the reefs of the Abrolhos Marine National Park, and helping support the Brazilians’ efforts to protect this national treasure. The data that we collected on that trip will be analyzed in my lab over the upcoming academic year. The below photos show the team that explored the Abrolhos, and also show me being interviewed by a reporter from the Brazilian equivalent of Good Morning America, where I am discussing ways that local residents can help protect their natural resources.
