Maria Ingersoll, Biology PhD candidate in the Davies and Gilmore Labs, and Mu-Han Chen, a Biology PhD student in the Davies Lab, received the 2023 McLeod Summer Award.
Maria studies the immune system of cnidarians, including coral and sea anemones, specifically in reference to their symbiosis with a photosynthetic algae that lives inside of their gastrodermal cells. Her research leverages a combination of next-generation sequencing, molecular biology, and environmentally relevant susceptibility analyses to perform the following: 1) characterize the influence of symbiosis and starvation on gene expression and stress response programming in the sea anemone E. pallida (Valadez-Ingersoll et al., ProcB 2024), 2) use single-cell RNA sequencing and proteomics to develop an atlas of cell-type composition and gene expression across symbiotic states in the coral O. arbuscula, and 3) use Split Pool Ligation-based Transcriptome sequencing and targeted molecular assays to uncover the molecular specificity of the host immune system for specific symbiont strains in E. pallida.
Her research provides a substantive contribution to the fields of evolution (characterizing immune systems in basal Metazoa), cell biology (describing the transcriptomic profiles of cell types in previously unexplored taxa), and conservation biology (informing how cnidarian holobionts respond to environmental stress).
Mu-Han’s proposed research aims to identify functional interactions between Symbiodiniaceae and bacteria, further exploring their collective impacts on the coral host response to environmental change. She will leverage recent advancements in transcriptomics, metabolomics, and NanoSIP imaging techniques to gain a comprehensive understanding of Symbiodiniaceae-bacteria interactions within coral holobionts.
To address this overarching objective, she will use the sea anemone Aiptasia (Exaiptasia pallida) and its endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae as a model system for cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis. Building upon this Aiptasia-Symbiodiniaceae framework, she aim to integrate bacteria to create a more complex system encompassing cnidarian-symbiont- bacteria interactions. In the upcoming summer of 2024, her primary focus will be on characterizing ex hospite interactions between free-living Symbiodiniaceae and their associated bacteria. She will examine variation in symbiont physiology, microbial composition, and gene expression profiles between axenic Symbiodiniaceae strains and their xenic counterparts.
Results of her proposed research will elucidate the intricate interplay among microscopic symbiotic partners within the cnidarian holobiont. These endeavors hold the potential for invaluable insights, reshaping our understanding of symbiosis with potential future applications for bioengineering in corals, particularly in light of challenges posed by climate change.
The Warren-McLeod Graduate Fellowship in Marine Science was established by Patricia Warren (the granddaughter of BU’s 1st President, William Fairfield Warren) in 1990 to support graduate students in the BU Marine Program (BUMP). Guy McLeod was Patricia’s brother-in-law and the long-time director of research at the New England Aquarium. He was a marine biologist, whose scholarship focused on the role of iron, vanadium, and other metal ions on the physiological ecology of marine animals.
Congratulations Maria and Mu-Han!