May 30, 2024

10:30am-11:30am Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) Library

Monica Medina
Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University

" Dissecting photosymbiotic cnidarian holobionts "

Abstract: The coral holobiont is comprised of a complex community of microbial partners who each brings its own suite of interactions with one another. The best studied interaction is that between the coral and the photosynthetic algal endosymbionts in the family Symbiodiniaceae. However, we are starting to uncover the role of other microorganisms that also have important metabolic complementarity roles in holobiont dynamics. I will describe some of these interactions in coral and other cnidarian holobionts, how they may shape host physiology and may vary over ontogeny.

Speaker Bio: Mónica Medina trained as a marine biologist at the University of Miami. She did a first postdoc at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA and a second postdoc at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Mónica took a research scientist position at the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, CA where she started her work on coral genomics. After 8 years at the University of California Merced, she relocated to Penn State University where she is a Professor of Biology.

Zoom information: Zoom Link-Medina
Meeting ID: 971 4760 9325
Passcode: 079496

Host: CSRC/EEB