Marine Molecular Biology Laboratory

Cecilia is fascinated by neuronal development and early animal evolution. She is also interested in the regulatory networks that control gene expression dynamics underlying the ability of many marine organisms to rapidly respond and adapt to their environment.

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• Post-doctoral Fellow, Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara (2012)

• PhD Molecular and Cellular Biology, Stony Brook University, New York (2007)

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Email: cconaco@msi.upd.edu.ph

Niño is interested in understanding the responses of corals, sponges, and their associated microbial assemblages to anthropogenic stressors. He is currently investigating the impacts of coastal acidification on the stress response and skeletogenesis of calcareous sponges.

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• BS Fisheries, University of the Philippines Visayas (2016)

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Email: ngposadas@up.edu.ph

Jake is interested in determining the response of marine of marine holobionts, like sponges, corals, giant clams and their symbionts, to environmental stressors such as eutrophication pressure, thermal stress and ocean acidification.

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• Project: DOST-PCAARRD Coastal Acidification Program (2018-2021); ACIAR Coral Restoration (2021-present)

• Masters thesis: For better or for worse: Sponge-microbe partnership in the midst of eutrophication pressure (May 2018)

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Email: jpbaquiran@up.edu.ph

JB would like to understand how organisms respond to the changes in the environment. Currently, he is studying the effects of ocean warming on reef-building corals and the microscopic algal communities (Symbiodiniaceae) associated with them.

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• Project: ACIAR Coral Restoration (2021-present)

• BS Biology, University of the Philippines Baguio (2017)

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Email: jbquijano@up.edu.ph

Ely is interested in exploring different techniques to help corals survive and adapt to the changing environment. She aims to explore the potential of microbiome transplantation in conferring increased thermotolerance to corals, as well as develop feeding methods to enhance and support growth and survival of transplanted corals onto reefs to scale up restoration efforts.

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• Project: ACIAR Coral Restoration (2021-present)

• BS Biology, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (2019)

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Email: asescobar@up.edu.ph

Marielle is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptative responses of macroinvertebrates to varying environmental conditions. She also aims to investigate the transcriptome profiles of mesophotic corals and sponges and their shallow-water counterparts to provide insights into the biology of organisms distributed along a depth gradient.

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• Project: DOST-PCAARRD Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Program (2022-2025)

• BS Marine Biology, Visayas State University (2022)

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Email: mcarungay@msi.upd.edu.ph

Francis is intrigued by the adaptive potential of marine invertebrates, particularly how genes are differentially regulated in response to varying environmental conditions. He is currently investigating how depth-generalist corals and sponges and their associated symbiont communities adapt to changes in depth.

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• Project: DOST-PCAARRD Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Program (2022-2025)

• BS Fisheries, University of the Philippines Visayas (2022)

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Email: ftagnong@msi.upd.edu.ph

Gab is interested in the molecular evolution of marine organisms, their gene expression under varying environmental conditions, and the potential of assisted evolution as a  novel approach to marine conservation. Currently, she is exploring gene family expansions and artificial hybridization in giant clams.

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• Project: DOST-PCAARRD Giant Clam Program (2018-2021); Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Program (2022-2025)

• BS Biology, University of the Philippines Los Baños (2019)

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Email: glmaala@up.edu.ph

VL is broadly interested in the complexities of marine organisms, how they adapt to their environments, and how they respond to changes. Currently, he wants to investigate the structure of microbial communities in reef-building corals to understand how they contribute to holobiont resilience.

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• BS Biology, University of the Philippines Baguio (2022)

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Email: vbmadariaga@up.edu.ph

Hazell is interested in investigating the influence of geography on the microbial community of marine sponges. She also aims to understand the contribution of other factors to variability in sponge microbiomes.

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• BS Biology, University of the East (2017)

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Email: hbvalencia@up.edu.ph

Laurence is studying the ability of sponges as environmental DNA (eDNA) filters for biodiversity studies. Specifically, he is using eDNA metabarcoding of selected sponge species to survey fish biodiversity at various sites.

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• BS Molecular Biology and Biotechnology - University of the Philippines Diliman (2018)

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Email: laurence1benig@gmail.com

Kelly is interested in understanding the molecular responses of marine invertebrates to environmental stress. He is currently studying the molecular mechanisms underlying the responses of corals to artificial light at night. He aims to gain insights on how this will impact aspects of coral biology, such as reproduction.

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• BS Biology, University of the Philippines Manila (2019)

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Email: kapublico@up.edu.ph

Keana’s research interests are in molecular biology and its application towards improving giant clam mariculture. Her current work focuses on examining the molecular mechanisms underlying giant clam growth and development. She aims to develop transcriptome sequence resources for selected species of giant clams and identify the genetic toolkit underlying  reproduction and early life history.

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• Project: DOST-PCAARRD Giant Clam Program (2018-2021)

• BS Biochemistry, University of Santo Tomas (2017)

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Email: kptan@msi.upd.edu.ph

Aubrey is interested in exploring the bacterial microbiome of giant clams using molecular approaches. She aims to reveal functional bacterial symbionts that may have a significant role in immune response, nutrition, and disease resistance of giant clams.

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• BS Fisheries, University of the Philippines Visayas (2017)

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Email: aptejada@up.edu.ph

Blaire is currently investigating how changes in water quality due to mariculture impacts the development of the microbial biofilm community in coastal reef ecosystems and how this may affect coral settlement. Through a molecular-based approach, she hopes to understand the mechanisms at play between microbially-induced settlement and eutrophication due to mariculture activities.

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• BS Fisheries, University of the Philippines, Visayas (2013)

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Email: bpadayhag@msi.upd.edu.ph

Mike is interested in exploring the diversity and functional roles of microbial symbionts in sponges. He aims to better understand how sponge-symbiont interactions influence host adaptation and processes in the marine environment.

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• Project: DOST-PCAARRD Coastal Acidification Program (2018-2021); UPGRADE-CIA (2021)

• BS Biology, Southern Luzon State University (2012)

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Email: mlnada@up.edu.ph

Krista is interested in looking at the effects of environmental stress on the giant clam, Tridacna gigas, by looking at their gene expression responses. She hopes that this will contribute knowledge to restocking and monitoring efforts. Aside from her love for molecular biology and biotechnology, she has a growing interest in oceanographic instrumentation, a field which she thinks will play a vital role in research for countries like the Philippines.

 

• BS Food Technology, University of the Philippines, Mindanao (2013)

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Email: kvmelgarejo@up.edu.ph