Lab Members
Dr. Oscar Sosa
Ph.D. Biological Oceanography
MIT-WHOI Joint Program 2016
I joined the University of Puget Sound as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology in 2019. I teach introductory biology (Unity of Life: Cells, Molecules and Systems, genetics, and applied bioinformatics. My goal is to promote and enable undergraduate research by introducing students to the myriad of functions mediated by microbes in the ocean. I expose students in my lab to field oceanography research and support independent projects in microbial ecology and metabolism, bioinformatics, and biogeochemistry.
Claudia Luthy
B.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2024
I enjoy exploring the overlap between biochemical pathways and microbial organisms, and the complex interactions that are produced. I have been learning how to cultivate marine cyanobacteria in the lab to investigate what types of nutrient-containing compounds these produce could influence the growth of heterotrophic bacteria.
Dillon Conner
B.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2023
Dillon is interested in using genome data and microbial cultivation to study the metabolic properties of marine bacteria. Dillon enjoys tinkering with lab analytical instruments, measuring methane in seawater with a gas chromatograph-FID, and diving into R code.
Moira Gaffney
B.S. Biology 2023
Moira is interested in microbiology approaches to investigate the metabolic functions of marine bacteria and in microbial oceanography approaches to study microbes in their native environment.
Heritage University & Pacific Northwest Partnerships NSF REU program
Ty Burris aboard the RV Rachel Carson
Tykeediren Burris
Heirtage University NSF REU 2021 and Barry University
Ty joined the lab in summer 2022 to learn field oceanography methods aboard the RV Rachel Carson and completed a microbiology project to study the response of marine bacteria to the metabolite homarine.
Yarinet Romero-Maysonet
Heirtage University NSF REU 2021 and Universidad Ana G. Mendez, Puerto Rico
Yarinet applied RNAseq and transcriptomics to study the genes expressed by marine bacteria in response to growth on the metabolite homarine.
Abby Anderson
Heritage University NSF REU 2021 and University of Washington Bioengineering
Abby applied genetic techniques to mutagenize marine bacteria that breakdown nitrogenous metabolites.
Antonio Franco
Heritage University NSF REU 2020
Tony did a virtual REU project focusing on metagenomics approaches to investigate the biogeography and ecology of nutrient cycling genes in the ocean.
Past Puget Sound Research Students
Sabine Angier
B.S. Biology 2022
Sabine learned gas chromatography and microbiology approaches to study the production of methane through biochemical pathways involving the demethylation of organic compounds associated with plankton.
Sabine started a Research Technician position in the Biology Department at UPS in 2022.
Clarissa Troutman
B.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology 2022
Clarissa applied molecular techniques and bioinformatics approaches to sequence and analyze metagenomes obtained from methane-generating plankton decomposition experiments in nearshore Puget Sound waters. Clarissa learned R and command line programming for her independent projects.
Nicholas Wong
B.S. Biology 2021
Nick was interested in molecular biology and genomic approaches to learn about the ecology of microbes. Nick screened marine microbial gene expression databases for genes regulating cell death in bacteria.
Nick is now a Research Associate at Helix.
Aldrin Villahermosa
B.S. Biology 2021
A. J. analyzed a time-series of marine microbial metagenomes in the open ocean to find genes that followed seasonal cycles in relative abundance. These genes were hypothesized to confer adaptations to changing environmental conditions over the year.
A.J. started the Master in Public Health program at UPS in 2021.
Noah Dillon
B.S. Biology 2020
Noah developed a thesis project to identify bacterial members of the Puget Sound marine microbiome that produced the greenhouse gas methane. Noah isolated a Marinomonas strain at Point Defiance that was shown to release methane gas in the lab!
Noah began a PhD in Biology at the University of Oregon in 2020.
Ben Whitley
B.S. Biology 2021
Ben applied molecular biology techniques on bacterial plasmids for mutagenesis.