People

Group Leaders

Madeleine van Oppen

I was originally trained in marine ecology, developed as an ecological geneticist post-BSc and began to study corals in 1997 and coral-associated microorganism in 2000. My microbial studies were initially limited to the dinoflagellate endosymbionts of corals, but more recently I have ventured into the study of other microbial groups that inhabit corals, including prokaryotes, viruses, and fungi.

My group’s current research focuses on the field of coral reef restoration, in particular the development of coral stock better able to cope with disturbed environments and predicted future ocean conditions. This includes the manipulation and genetic engineering of microbial communities associated with corals, laboratory evolution of algal endosymbionts, selective breeding of corals, and the conditioning (i.e., transgenerational acclimation) of corals to predicted future ocean conditions.

I completed my PhD on the molecular biogeography of seaweeds at the University of Groningen (Netherlands) in 1995, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral positions at the University of East Anglia, UK (Speciation in Cichlid fishes), and James Cook University, Australia (Molecular relationships in the coral genus Acropora, and Genetic diversity and specificity of acroporid coral-dinoflagellate symbioses). In 2001, I took up a position at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Townsville. I commenced my position as a professor in the School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, in 2015, while still maintaining a part-time position as Senior Principal Research Scientist at AIMS.

E-mail: madeleine.van@unimelb.edu.au Link to AIMS page

Linda Blackall

Linda is an environmental microbial ecologist, who has studied many different complex microbial communities ranging from host associated through to free living in numerous environments. Her research has covered mammalian microbiomes of marsupials, humans, ruminants and horses; and the microbiota of non-mammals including corals and sponges. Environmental microbiomes explored in Linda’s research span wastewater treatment (aerobic and anaerobic), solid waste digestion (landfill and composting), bioelectric systems and microbiologically influenced corrosion. The numerous methods she develops and employs in her research allow elucidation of microbial complexity and function in these diverse biomes.

E-mail: linda.blackall@unimelb.edu.au

Postdoctoral Researchers

Patrick Buerger

Patrick Buerger is a postdoctoral researcher with CSIRO’s Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform and the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on climate change and anthropogenic impacts on coral reef ecosystems. Using genetic engineering and a range of Omics technologies, he investigates the thermal resilience of algal symbionts in corals. Patrick completed his PhD in Marine Science at James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. His work highlighted viruses as potential contributors to and mitigators of the coral black band disease and white syndrome.

Prior to his research in Australia, Patrick obtained an MSc in Tropical Marine Ecology at the University of Bremen and a BSc in General Biology at the Ruhr-University of Bochum.
If Patrick is not in the laboratory, he is passionate about innovative technologies that improve environmental conservation and science communication.

E-mail: patrick.buerger@unimelb.edu.au

Keren Maor-Landaw

My post-doctoral studies focus on membrane transporters that are crucial to the cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae symbiotic relationship. The symbiotic algae provide energy by transferring their photosynthetic production to the host and in return derive benefits from the host in the form of nutrients and shelter. Successful exchange of compounds through membranes is a fundamental key feature enabling the effective partnership and must be facilitated by proteins in the cellular membranes of each of the partners as well as in the symbiosome interface.

As a PhD student in Bar Ilan University, Israel, supervised by Prof. Oren Levy, I explored how corals respond to climate change and which cellular processes are involved during environmental stress. I compared the gene expression response of corals possessing different morphologies and corals from different ecosystems – sub tropical to temperate corals.

My MSc at Haifa University, Israel, under the supervision of Prof. Dan Tchernov and Prof. Sarit Larisch, was focused on the apoptotic enzyme Caspase 3 in a Mediterranean coral following an ocean acidification scenario, and its correlation to a unique ecophenotye.

E-mail: keren.maor@unimelb.edu.au

Wing Chan

My research focuses on coral reef conservation and restoration. I commenced my postdoc at the University of Melbourne in 2019 and my project examines the feasibility of enhancing coral climate resilience via the introduction of resilient microalgal endosymbionts. I completed my PhD at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Melbourne, exploring the potential of hybridization as a tool for coral reef conservation.

My Honours Degree at the Australian National University investigated the calcification responses of corals to diurnal variation in seawater carbonate chemistry. Other than coral reefs, I have also involved in research on marine micro-plastics, radioactive dating and isotope analysis. Outside the office, I am passionate about science outreach and aviation, and serve as a helicopter flight instructor.

E-mail: w.chan@unimelb.edu.au

Justin Maire

I am originally from Lyon, France, a city where I completed all my studies. I did both my master’s and my PhD under the supervision of Dr’s Abdelaziz Heddi and Anna Zaidman-Rémy, and worked on the obligate symbiosis between the cereal weevil Sitophilus and its bacterial endosymbiont Sodalis pierantonius. S. pierantonius provides its insect host with vitamins and amino acids, allowing Sitophilus to thrive exclusively on cereals. As such, Sitophilus is considered as a major crop pest around the world. In a first project, I investigated the mechanisms preventing a chronic host immune activation because of the constant association with immunogenic bacteria. Then, I studied how this association is modulated across the insect’s lifecycle, and particulartly during metamorphosis.

I recently joined Pr Madeleine van Oppen’s lab in Melbourne for my first postdoc. My project will be part of the important effort to enhance coral’s climate resilience through assisted evolution. My projects involve the identification and characterization of closely-associated bacterial symbionts of Symbiodiniaceae and cnidarians, and in fine the genetic engineering of those symbionts to improve stress resistance in the coral holobiont.

E-mail: justin.maire@unimelb.edu.au

PhD candidates

Ashley Dungan

Originally from NY, USA, I completed my Bachelors of Science degree in Biology in 2011, conducting a senior research project in the field of environmental microbiology. I completed my Master’s degree at Nova Southeastern University in Florida under Dr. Nicole Fogarty, where I studied the impact of ocean acidification on the calcification of Caribbean adult and juvenile corals. After graduating in 2015, I worked for Mote Marine Laboratory in the Florida Keys as a Staff Chemist in the Ocean Acidification program; there I continued my work with corals and began working with Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin. Beginning early 2017, I joined Dr.’s Madeleine van Oppen and Linda Blackall at the University of Melbourne as a Ph.D student. My current research focuses on characterising the microbiome of the model organism for corals, Exaiptasia pallida, for future use in assisted evolution research. My research interests are in the field of climate change, coral reef ecosystems, and assisted evolution.

E-mail: adungan@student.unimelb.edu.au

Leon Hartman

Microbial communities hosted by cnidarians show evidence of both dynamism and stability, with change suggestive of adaptation by the holobiont to environmental stress. My research investigates whether Exaiptasia pallida’s thermal tolerance can be enhanced through manipulation of its prokaryotic communities. Comparison of metabolite production by thermally stressed anemones inoculated with native and manipulated communities will be used to measure the effect of this approach.

E-mail: leon.hartman@unimelb.edu.au

Katarina Damjanovic

After completing both Bachelor and Masters degrees in Life Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland), I started my PhD in October 2015 at the University of Melbourne. The major part of my research is conducted at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville, where I investigate the feasibility of manipulating coral-associated bacteria (with the aim to enhance coral stress tolerance). Focusing on the corals Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea (both broadcast spawners), as well as Pocillopora acuta (also a brooder), my experiments consist in inoculating early life stages of these corals with microbiomes and assessing the efficiency and persistence of the inoculations. Larvae and recruits exposed to various microbes are reared under controlled conditions and their microbiomes are regularly characterised through 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. I also use fluorescence in situ hybridisation microscopy to gain insights into the transmission modes of bacteria in A. tenuis and P. acuta.

E-mail: kdamjanovic@student.unimelb.edu.au

Giada Tortorelli

I received my BSc in Marine Biology and my MSc in Biodiversity and Evolution from the Alma Mater Studiorium University of Bologna, Italy. As a master and then postgraduate student, I investigated the impacts of global warming on the reproduction of a scleractinian temperate coral along a natural temperature and solar radiation gradient; it is here that I developed a deep interest and passion in coral biology. As a PhD candidate in the Marine Microbial Symbioses Group at the University of Melbourne, I work under the supervision of Prof McFadden, Prof van Oppen and Prof Davy. My focus is the symbiosis between Cnidarian and Symbiodiniaceae dinoflagellates that power coral reefs, using the anemone Exaiptasia pallida as model organism to study corals. I am interested in the very initial steps during the establishment of this mutualistic association: based on the hypothesis that Symbiodiniaceae endosymbionts and Apicomplexa parasites arose from a common ancestor that invented a powerful recognition system and mechanisms for invading and surviving in the host, my main aim is to investigate the inter-partner signalling and molecular events that allow recognition between host and photosymbionts in the setup of symbiosis.

E-mail: tortorellig@student.unimelb.edu.au

Annika Lamb

I am interested in using genetic and molecular approaches to better understand and inform the conservation of wildlife. I completed my Bachelor of Biomedical Science and Bachelor of Science (Hons) majoring in Genetics and Ecology and Conservation at Monash University. During my Honours year, I investigated whether the mitochondrial genomes of Australian birds have evolved under climate-driven selection.

I began my PhD in 2018, supervised by Madeleine van Oppen, Peter Harrison, Ary Hoffmann and Craig Humphrey. My research investigates interspecific hybridisation as a novel option for reef management, particularly in the context of producing more resilient coral stock (compared to the native stock) for coral reef restoration initiatives.

E-mail: amlamb@student.unimelb.edu.au

Master students

Sam Girvan

With a keen interest in marine biology and genetics I completed my Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne with a double major in zoology and marine biology. I’m currently undertaking my first year of my Masters of Bioscience degree under the supervision of Dr.’s Patrick Buerger and Madeleine van Oppen at the University of Melbourne. My research project aims to discover whether the algae-associated bacterial communities have evolved alongside the algae, potentially allowing the observed increase in algal thermal tolerance determined from previous studies.

E-mail: sgirvan@student.unimelb.edu.au

Ruby Vanstone

Description to come

E-mail: rvanstone@student.unimelb.edu.au

Sarah Jane Tsang Min Ching

Originally from the tropical island Mauritius, I completed my Bachelor of Science at Northeastern University in Boston, USA with a double major in marine biology and environmental science with a concentration in wildlife studies. I am currently in the first year of my Master of Science (BioSciences) degree under the supervision of Dr.’s Patrick Buerger, Wing Chan and Madeleine van Oppen. My research project aims at examining the physiological performance of cnidarian animals that associate with different types of lab-evolved Symbiodiniaceae and determining the potential trade-offs that could result from establishing symbiosis with those algal symbionts.

E-mail: stsangminchi@student.unimelb.edu.au

Gabriela Lozano Rodriguez

I am passionate about working to preserve the environment and have worked on a number of projects in this field. Before moving to Australia to study a Master of Biotechnology at the University of Melbourne, I spent five years working in environmental, chemical and pharmaceutical industries in Mexico. My earlier research projects have related to the purification, structural elucidation and mechanism of action of toxins produced by fire coral (Millepora alcicornis) to understand its potential medicinal applications. I am currently working as a Research Assistant at the Marine Microbial Symbioses Group at the University of Melbourne where I am working to develop a spawning protocol for multiple genotypes of coral. I love the outdoors and spend as much time as I can hiking and playing flag football.

E-mail: alozano@student.unimelb.edu.au

Professional staff

Roshan Cheetamun – Lab Manager

Description to come

E-mail: roshanc@unimelb.edu.au

Giulia Holland – Research Assistant

I have recently been assisting with the probiotic experiment and I am about to embark on characterizing the prokaryotic microbiome of the coral Plesiastrea by collecting pure cultures and metabarcoding.

E-mail: giuliah@student.unimelb.edu.au

Kelly – Lab Dog

Kelly is a two-year-old golden retriever. While in the office she specializes in mental health and emotional support, her full time job is as a breeding dog for Seeing Eye Dogs Vision Australia. Elite Seeing Eye Dogs are sourced from SEDs own “in-house” breeding program. Kelly lives and goes to work with her Breeder Carer, Ashley, where she enjoys all the comforts of dog life. See SEDs breeder caring web page for more information.

E-mail: info@seda.org.au

Alumni

Hannah Epstein – Former PhD Student

I am a PhD candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at JCU and the Australian Institute of Marine Science under the supervision of Prof. Madeleine van Oppen, Prof. Philip Munday and Dr. Gergely Torda. My research explores the main drivers of community composition in the coral microbiome to inform the development of microbiome engineering techniques that may enhance climate resilience in corals. My project is part of a larger collaborative study led by Madeleine van Oppen and Ruth Gates (Hawai’i Institute of Marine Science) researching assisted evolution approaches for corals in the face of climate change.

Hannah completed her PhD in October 2018 and is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Victoria, Canada.

E-mail: hannah.epstein@my.jcu.edu.au

Leela Chakravarti – Former PhD Student

Leela has completed her PhD in February 2019, working on the thermal tolerance of coral-associated algal photosymbionts.

E-mail: leelajchakravarti@gmail.com

Roy Belderock – Former Masters Student

I am a masters student from the University of Amsterdam pursuing a career in marine biology. My main interests are conservation genetics, adaptation and symbiotic interactions in reef ecosystems. Especially the interest in symbiotic interactions is what brought me to this lab.

In the past I gained experience studying reproductive isolation in Caribbean giant barrel sponges by applying histological techniques in combination with DNA barcoding. And now I want to expand on that skill set with Symbiodiniaceae reinfection experiments on E. pallida. In addition I am also trying to induce sexual reproduction of E. pallida. The larvae could help the team to study the Symbiodiniaceae recognition pathway in early life stages.

E-mail: roy.belderok@unimelb.edu.au