Symbiosis with photosynthetic algae has evolved several times and has shaped the evolutionary trajectory of life. In fact, corals and sea anemones are thought to have evolved photosymbiosis independently of one another.

I am interested in understanding how genes and cellular machinery have been co-opted to evolve photosymbioses. For example, I have found that despite their independent evolution, corals and sea anemones co-opt the same lysosomal proteins to function in symbiosis.

With the introduction of new molecular tools and methods, it has recently become possible to target genes for CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis, RNAi knockdown, and over-expression as fluorescent constructs in the sea anemone, Aiptasia.

I am functionally interrogating the genes involved in symbiosis, to gain an understanding on how perturbing the function of specific genes affect the physiology of each partner.

The symbiosome is the host-derived organelle in which the algal symbiont resides. This is the key interface for molecular communication and metabolic exchange between the two partners. Despite its importance, the complete symbiosome proteome had yet to be described.

I was able to successfully characterize a high-quality symbiosome proteome using biochemical isolation techniques and test the function of symbiosome proteins using CRISPR/cas9 knockouts and shRNA knockdowns in Aiptasia and coral Galaxea fascicularis.

Read more about this work here: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.09.679812