Dr. Michael Stekoll spent part of this last summer in the labs of Dr. Carl Carrano, Professor of Chemistry, and Dr. Matt Edwards Professor of Biology at San Diego State University.Dr. Carrano has been studying iron uptake and metabolism in bacteria for several years.  Dr. Stekoll was visiting in the lab, working learning to apply the iron uptake studies to macroscopic algae, especially the kelps.  A critical aspect of the kelp life cycle is controlled by iron, and the kinetics of iron uptake is a key to understanding this process. Dr. Stekoll is continuing this research at UAS with the help of undergraduate Ashleigh Stephens.

Dr. Stekoll also spent a few weeks in Cape Town, South Africa in on-going collaboration with Drs. John Bolton and Rob Anderson and graduate student Mark Rothman of the University of Cape Town. They are working on several algal projects, one of which is the biology and ecology of the large, canopy forming South African kelp, Ecklonia.

Dr. Sherry Tamone and her graduate student Marilyn Fox-Zaleski attended the annual Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology from January 3-7 in Salt Lake City Utah where they presented their work on reproductive physiology of male snow crabs (Fox-Zaleski) and metabolic effects on Tanner crabs hosting the parasitic dinoflagellate (Tamone).

Dr. Sherry Tamone attended the 2011 Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage Alaska on January 17-19^th with Kristin Brown, an undergraduate in the Marine Biology program.  Sherry presented a poster entitled “Metabolic consequences for Tanner crab infected with Hematodinium sp.: Circulating glucose and histological changes. This work was funded by the North Pacific Research Board.

Kristin presented a poster concerning an independent study she completed in collaboration with Alaska Department of Fish and Game researchers Gail Blundell and Shawna Karpovich.  Her presentation (pictured left) was entitled “Blood parameters on live captured harbor seals in Endicott Arm, Alaska.