Current Lab Members
Cecilia Conaco, PhD
Associate Professor
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)
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PhD Molecular and Cellular Biology, Stony Brook University, New York (2007)
Email: cconaco@msi.upd.edu.ph
Niño Dan Posadas
University research assistant and graduate student
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)
Email: ngposadas@up.edu.ph
Jake Ivan Baquiran
Research assistant
Jake is interested in determining the response of marine sponges and their microbiome to eutrophication pressure. He also aims to understand the effects of environmental stressors on the community structure, physiology, growth, microbiome composition, and gene expression responses of sponges and other reef-associated macroalgae species.
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Project: DOST-PCAARRD Coastal Acidification Program (2018-2021)
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Masters thesis: For better or for worse: Sponge-microbe partnership in the midst of eutrophication pressure (May 2018)
Email: jpbaquiran@up.edu.ph
Michael Angelou Nada
Research assistant and graduate student
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)
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BS Biology, Southern Luzon State University (2012)
Email: mlnada@up.edu.ph
Keana Dehnielle Tan
Research assistant and graduate student
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)
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BS Biochemistry, University of Santo Tomas (2017)
Email: kptan@msi.upd.edu.ph
Kuselah Mae Tayaban
Research assistant and graduate student
Kus is interested in the ecology and functional significance of symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium) associated with giant clams and corals. She aims to explore the diversity of the symbionts in relation to climate change impacts, adaptation, and evolution of the host-symbiont association. She is also interested in pathways, interactions, and environmental regulation of different microbial processes in the oceans.
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Project: DOST-PCAARRD Giant Clam Program (2018-2021)
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MS Microbiology, University of the Philippines Diliman (2017)
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BS Biology, University of the Philippines Baguio (2013)
Email: kmtayaban@msi.upd.edu.ph
Albebson Lim
Graduate student (co-advised with Dr. Gisela Concepcion, University of the Philippines, Diliman)
Albeb is interested in the diversity and secondary metabolism of associated and symbiotic bacteria from Philippine mollusks. He is also interested in assessing the different bioactivities, ranging from antimicrobial to antipain activity, of the compounds produced by these microbes. For his study, he is doing work on identifying and characterizing a putative novel species of Winogradskyella isolated from a Philippine turrid, Turris babylonia.
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BS Biology Major in Microbiology - University of the Philippines Los Baños
Email:
Laurence Benig
Graduate student
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)
Email:
Gabriella Maala
Graduate student
Gab is interested in assisted evolution of marine organisms and their gene expression under varying environmental conditions. She aims to help in developing novel approaches to marine conservation by exploring interspecific hybridization. She is currently investigating the thermal stress response and transcriptome profiles of giant clam hybrids.
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BS Biology, University of the Philippines Los Baños (2019)
Email: glmaala@up.edu.ph
Kelly Rome Publico
Graduate student
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)
Email: kapublico@up.edu.ph
Aubrey Joy Tejada
Graduate student
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)
Email: aptejada@up.edu.ph
Blaire Padayhag
Graduate student
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, Blaire 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)
Email: bpadayhag@msi.upd.edu.ph
D.J. Marie Palic
Graduate student
D.J. is interested in understanding the immune responses of scleractinian corals amidst environmental disturbances associated with climate change. She is currently studying the transcriptomes of corals under elevated temperature in search for immune response-related genes that may serve as mediators of coral resilience.
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BS Fisheries, University of the Philippines, Visayas (2016)
Email: dpalic@msi.upd.edu.ph
Kris Punayan
Graduate student
Kris is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the coral response towards environmental stimuli using a functional genomics approach. Specifically, she aims to investigate the roles of GPCRs in the coral stress response and in the stability of the host-symbiont relationship.
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BS Marine Biology, Mindanao State University, General Santos City (2013)
Email: kppunayan@up.edu.ph
Shiela Mae Araiza
Graduate student
Shiela is interested in looking at the molecular responses of corals to the changing climate. She is currently investigating the role of apoptosis genes in scleractinian corals in response to thermal stress. She hopes to gain a better understanding of the molecular dynamics and mechanisms that may allow the prediction of future bleaching events and coral mortality.
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BS Marine Biology, Mindanao State University, General Santos City (2013)
Email: shielamaearaiza@gmail.com
Krista Iris Melgarejo
Graduate student (co-advised with Dr. Giovanni Tapang, National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines, Diliman)
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.
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BS Food Technology, University of the Philippines, Mindanao (2013)
Email: kvmelgarejo@up.edu.ph