Baums Laboratory

	Dr. Iliana Baums is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Ecology in the Department of Biology at Penn State. She recieved her Ph.D. from the University of Miami using microsatellite markers to look at clonal population structure and geographic variation in the Caribbean elkhorn coral Acropora palmata. She completed a post doc at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. Her research involves developing and applying molecular tools to understand the consequences of biogeography, population structure, and mating patterns to the survival and evolution of marine organisms.
	Meghann K. Durante is the lab manager. She is an alum of Penn State where she recieved her masters in Molecular Medicine. Meghann is involved in all aspects of work in the lab and even provides support in the field.
	Nick Polato is a Ph.D. student in the IGDP in ecology. He recieved his B.S. from SUNY Buffalo with a double major in Biology and Environmental Studies. Nick is interested in using genetic techniques to understand how natural selection, population connectivity and biogeography impact the evolution and conservation of species. He is currently involved in projects applying a set of recently developed microsatellite markers to populations of the Lobe Coral, Porites lobata from throughout the Pacific, and developing a microarray to investigate gene expression patterns in the endangered Caribbean Elkhorn Coral, Acropora palmata.
	Dannise Ruiz is a Ph.D. student in Biology. Dannise recieved her masters from University of Puerto Rico where she studied genetic variation in fire corals. Dannise is currently working on developing micosatellite markers to investigate population structure in black corals (Leiopathes spp.)
	John Parkinson is a Ph.D. student in Biology. John is interested in the early establishment of the coral-algal symbiosis. When a coral is stressed, this partnership breaks down, and the algae are expelled in a process known as coral bleaching. Rising sea-surface temperatures associated with climate change can lead to bleaching and death in coral communities. Understanding how the genetic diversity of both the host coral and the algae affects the development of the symbiosis has important implications for reef management. In addition to his spawn collection and larval rearing duties, John hopes to run some infection experiments by introducing freshly isolated algae to symbiont-free larvae.
	Jennifer Boulay is a Ph.D. student in Biology. Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Miami, where she studied larval fish ecology and dispersal dynamics. She has been SCUBA diving for research purposes on the reefs of the Florida Keys, Australia, and Curaçao.
	Dennis Xu is a biology undergraduate student interested in early life history. He uses microscopy and image analysis to study gametogenis and development in Caribbean corals.
	Sharm Giri is an undergraduate student in Biology. Sharm is involved a variety of projects in the lab from analyzing colony size data to sewing gamete collection nets and helping out in the field.
	Nadia Abidi is an undergraduate student in Biology. Nadia is working with the LaJeunnesse lab to identify coral symbiont types in juvenile corals raised in captivity.
Past Lab Members:
	Pilar Casado de Amezúa was a visiting PhD student from the Museum of Natural History of Madrid, Spain. Her reserach interests focus on connectivity among coral populations using microsatellites as molecular markers. She is currently involved in the development of those markers in the species Leiopathes sp. from the Gulf of Mexicoand Astroides calycularis and Cladocora caespitosa from the Mediterranean Sea.
	Lakeia Y. Brown biology major '08. Lakeia's work involved genotyping elkhorn coral (A. palmata) from the Caribbean as well as developing additional microsatellite markers for the study of Acroporids worldwide.