This week, Voss Lab graduate students Danielle Dodge and Michael Studivan are in Washington, DC to attend the inaugural Global Biodiversity Genomics conference. This conference is hosted by the Smithsonian Institute and serves as a unique opportunity for molecular biologists to present and discuss the latest genetic techniques used to uncover the diversity of global ecosystems. Both Danielle and Michael will be presenting posters of their research on Wednesday (P-20 and P-70, respectively).

Additionally, they will be live-tweeting the conference using #BioGenomics2017.

Graduate student Danielle Dodge and Jeff Beal from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted a sampling event at St. Lucie Reef this week to complete tissue collections for an ongoing population genetic study. As part of her Master’s thesis work and the lab’s ongoing investigation of SE Florida reefs, Dani has collected over 100 Montastraea cavernosa tissue samples from nearshore reefs along Florida’s “Treasure Coast” including locations off the Palm Beaches, Jupiter, and Stuart. By identifying specific genetic markers within the DNA, she is determining how these corals are related to one another and how their populations may be influenced by environmental factors such as the nearby Florida current. Learn more about the broader objectives of the St. Lucie Reef project here.

The team also tested a coral tissue biopsy technique using 60 mL syringes to minimize damage to the coral colonies. Graduate student Ryan Eckert has successfully extracted DNA from these samples and will compare nucleic acid quality between this new technique and our previous sampling methods. If successful, we plan to employ this syringe-based method during an upcoming research expedition to the Smithsonian research station on Carrie Bow Cay, Belize.

Stay tuned for project results, including our lab’s presentations at the upcoming Benthic Ecology Meeting in South Carolina.

During the past year, both Danielle Dodge and Michael Studivan received multiple awards and grants benefitting their individual research projects. Michael received the 2017 Dissertation Year Award sponsored by the FAU Research Enhancement Program, and the Graduate Fellowship for Academic Excellence from the FAU Graduate College. Danielle was recently awarded the 2017 Women Divers Hall of Fame Marine Conservation Scholarship, and the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance Biogenomics 2017 Student Award. Earlier this year, she also was selected for the Indian River Lagoon Graduate Research Fellowship and PADI Foundation Grant contributing towards her Master’s thesis research.
 
Learn more about the two research projects the graduate students are conducting here!

FAU Research Enhancement Program Dissertation Year Award
FAU Graduate College Awards
PADI Foundation Grant
Women Divers Hall of Fame Marine Conservation Scholarship
Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance Biogenomics 2017 Student Award