I grew up in California and received my B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego. My first introduction to academic research was as an undergraduate in a Developmental Neurobiology lab at the Salk Institute. After college, I got a job at a biotech company involved in sequencing the first human genome. It wasn’t long ( 3 months) before I realized I preferred academic research and the freedom and creativity it allowed. So I left industry and returned to academia working as a Research Associate in an immunology lab at Stanford University. I discovered a love for research, but wanted to apply the skills and knowledge I acquired in the biomedical field to an environmentally-related one. After completing a Master’s at Stanford University, I went on to the PhD program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. I came to Rutgers as a postdoctoral researcher in 2007 and was promoted to Assistant Research Professor 2012.
Chana received her Ph.D. from the Hebrew University where she studied iron bioavailability and transport mechanisms in cyanobacteria under the guidance of Drs. Nir Keren and Yeala Shaked. She joined the Thamatrakoln lab in Sept 2016 and is exploring the role the viruses play in mediating diatom biogeography and silicon biogeochemistry.
Oceanography (Co-Advised with Kay Bidle)
Austin is interested in biomineralization of phytoplankton, phytoplankton physiology, and how phytoplankton interact with their environment, other organisms, and each other. His dissertation work aims to characterize the light-dependent costs and benefits of calcification (i.e. production of calcium carbonate plates) in coccolithophores.
Mike is interested in understanding the molecular regulation of silicification (i.e. cell wall formation) in diatoms and using these molecular markers as a means toward interrogating silicon stress in natural populations.
Liesl is studying the effect of oil spills on phytoplankton physiology. She is specifically interested in the production of transparent exopolymers (the sticky stuff that forms marine snow) by phytoplankton after exposure to oil and dispersants, and its role in facilitating carbon export.
Microbial Biology (Co-Advised with Dr. Kay Bidle)
Dina is interested in the role that diatom viruses play in mediating diatom bloom termination.
The role of diatom host-virus interactions in silicon cycling