Email: ncollazo@umces.edu
Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus, M.S. Microbiology, Molecular Diagnostics. 2024.
Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus, B.S. Microbiology. 2021.
Coastal lagoons, bays, and estuarine systems in Puerto Rico
Harmful algal bloom (HAB) microbiomes
Next-Generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics
Nanushka Mia Bonano-Collazo is from Cataño, Puerto Rico’s smallest coastal town, and is a first-generation and first-year PhD student working in the labs of Dr. Tsvetan Bachvaroff and Dr. Eric Schott at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology. During her graduate studies, she investigated microbial communities in Puerto Rico’s bioluminescent lagoons under the mentorship of Dr. Natasha I. DeLeón-Rodríguez. In her doctoral research, she aims to investigate the ecology of harmful algal bloom (HAB) microbiomes, especially Karenia brevis in the southeastern United States and Sargassum in Puerto Rico's coastal waters. Nanushka is a NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center Fellow and a Científico Latino, Inc. GSMI 2025 Alumni Program Scholar.