Program Leadership
Bill Curry, Program Leader
Curry is the President & CEO of BIOS and as such leads the multi-institutional BIOS-SCOPE program
Craig Carlson, Program Director and Co-Principal Investigator
Carlson is a Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and is a member of UCSB’s Marine Science Institute. He is also a member of BIOS’s Adjunct Faculty. As the Program Director of BIOS-SCOPE, Carlson oversees the overall science plan to ensure that the research carried out is effective in its cross-disciplinary and integrative approach.
Research Teams
| Institution | Role | Expertise |
| ASU BIOS | ||
| Leocadio Blanco-Bercial leocadio@asu.edu An Associate Scientist at BIOS, Blanco-Bercial is using metabarcoding to identify the zooplankton microbiome and protist community structure in the water column samples collected from BATS and BIOS-SCOPE cruises. His interests lay in assessing how protistan community structure varies on diel to seasonal timescales. |
Investigator | Zooplankton-microbial Community Interactions |
| Ruth Curry ruth.curry@bios.asu.edu Manager of the Mid-Atlantic Glider Initiative and Collaboration (MAGIC) Lab at BIOS, Curry investigates nutrient and carbon cycling in the Sargasso Sea. She is interested in how ocean circulation and water mass properties change with time and their role in the global climate system. |
Investigator | Physical Oceanography |
| Jessica Godfrey jessica_godfrey@bios.asu.edu Godfrey is a research technician on the BIOS-SCOPE project. Her research focus is on zooplankton ecology, physiology and diversity as well as bacterial and viral abundance and ecology. She is responsible for pre-cruise preparation and post-cruise sample processing. Godfrey also assists with at-sea sampling, sample shipments, cruise logistics, program administration and data collection. |
Research Support | Oceanography |
| Hannah Gossner hannah.gossner@bios.asu.edu Gossner is a Research Assistant working with Drs. Blanco-Bercial and Maas. She is responsible for imaging the zooplankton datasets, prepping for and participating in cruises, conducting zooplankton physiology experiments, and helping with sample preparation for metabarcoding analyses. |
Research Support | Zooplankton-microbial Community Interactions |
| Rod Johnson rod.johnson@bios.asu.edu An Assistant Scientist at BIOS, Johnson is a physical oceanographer who manages and serves and Co-PI for both BATS and the Hydrostation ‘S’ Programs. He is responsible for data integration and CTD processing and oversees the time-series sampling for BIOS-SCOPE on BATS cruises. |
Data Processing and Integration | Physical Oceanography |
| Amy Maas amy.maas@asu.edu An Associate Scientist at BIOS, Maas is studying the ecological interaction between the zooplankton and microbial communities. Through physiological studies on vertically migrating zooplankton, she is helping to broaden our understanding of the impacts these animals have on the distribution of nutrients and organic matter. |
Investigator | Zooplankton-microbial Community Interactions |
| Claire Medley claire.medley@bios.asu.edu Medley is a time-shared technician responsible for collecting field samples for the BIOS-SCOPE program on BATS cruises. She coordinates with research and logistics specialists for pre-cruise prep and post-cruise sample processing. Medley also assists with streamlining sampling protocols and sample processing. |
At-sea Support | Oceanography |
| Rachel Parsons rachel_parsons@bios.asu.edu Parsons is a research specialist and manager of the Microbial Ecology Laboratory at BIOS. Her research focuses on assessing the linkages between microbial lineages responsible for specific genetic functions and their response to limited oxygen, nutrient, and DOM concentrations. She represents the on-sight point of contact for BIOS-SCOPE collaborators and assists with experimental design and sampling during and after their visits, and facilitating pre- and post-cruise logistics. She also facilitates sample analyses, data collection, and manages data streams. |
Investigator | Microbial Oceanography |
| Dom Smith dsmit278@bios.asu.edu A sea-going technician at BIOS, Smith assists in collecting field samples for the BIOS-SCOPE program on BATS cruises. He assists Johnson with data integration and CTD processing. Smith also coordinates with research and logistics specialists for pre-cruise prep and post-cruise sample processing. |
At-sea Support | Oceanography |
| Kevin Vergin kevin@microbialdnaanalytics.com Vergin is an experienced data analyst with a demonstrated history of working in the academic research industry. He is skilled in computer programming (Unix, Python, R), molecular biology, and microbiology with two M.S. degrees from Oregon State University. He is using his skills in molecular biology and computational analysis to assist BIOS-SCOPE investigators with bioinformatics from large scale time-series studies to small scale metagenomics. |
Visiting Scholar | Bioinformatics |
| Oregon State University | ||
| Libby Brennan brennael@oregonstate.edu Brennan is a graduate student in the Giovannoni Lab at Oregon State University who participated on the BIOS-SCOPE AE2213 cruise in July 2022. On this cruise, she gathered seawater samples for vitamin B1 analysis in order to better understand distribution of vitamin B1-related compounds in the Atlantic Ocean. |
Graduate Student | Marine Microbiology |
| Holger Buchholz buchholh@oregonstate.edu Buchholz is a post-doctoral scholar in the department of microbiology, working with Steve Giovanonni. His interests lie in the dynamics and functioning of marine microbial virus-host systems and how they relate to the wider microbial community and nutrient cycles. His fellowship is sponsored by the Simons Foundation, and he is currently working on the impacts of viruses on volatile organic carbon (VOC) and energy cycling in marine methylotrophic bacteria and algae. |
Postdoctoral Fellow | Marine Virology |
| Stephen Giovannoni steve.giovannoni@oregonstate.edu Giovannoni is a Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University in the Department of Microbiology and Adjunct Faculty at BIOS. Giovannoni is conducting and supervising research focused on culturing new types of cells and identifying new and significant mechanisms of dissolved organic matter oxidation in microbial plankton, both in controlled laboratory experiments and in the field. |
Co-Principal Investigator | Microbial Oceanography |
| Chih-Ping Lee leechih@oregonstate.edu Lee is a marine chemist interested in the cycling of nutrients and metalloids in the euphotic zone of the open ocean. In BIOS-SCOPE, Lee is focusing on novel biochemical pathways in SAR202 and their links to the global carbon cycle. |
Post-doctoral Fellow | Marine Biogeochemistry |
| Chris Suffridge suffridc@oregonstate.edu Suffridge is a postdoctoral scholar in the Giovanonni lab at OSU, investigating the nature of metabolite driven microbial interactions. His research with the BIOS-SCOPE project is focused on determining distribution of dissolved vitamin B1 coupled with measuring the rates of microbial utilization and production of this vital coenzyme. The ultimate goal of this research is to gain a greater understanding of how marine microorganisms interact, and how these interactions influence global-scale biogeochemical processes. |
Postdoctoral Scholar | Marine Metabolomics |
| University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) | ||
| Craig Carlson carlson@lifesci.ucsb.edu Carlson is a Professor at UCSB and Adjunct Faculty at BIOS. He is the Science Director of the BIOS-SCOPE Program, in charge of assembling the collaborative science team, developing the science plan, management structure, and overseeing the planning and coordinating of all science operations of the project. He leads a research group in Microbial Oceanography focused on the role that marine microbes play in the cycling of elements through oceanic dissolved organic matter (DOM) and the biogeochemical significance of DOM in the marine carbon cycle. |
Director of BIOS-SCOPE; Co-Principal Investigator | Microbial Oceanography |
| Jacqui Comstock jcomstock@ucsb.edu Comstock is a graduate student with the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science at UCSB. As part of the Carlson Microbial Oceanography lab, Jacqui’s work focuses on the linkages between dissolved organic matter and microbial community structure. Jacqui’s role in the BIOS-SCOPE is assisting with collection and sequencing of bacterial DNA samples. |
Graduate Student | Microbial Oceanography |
| Chance English cje@ucsb.edu English is a graduate student at UCSB interested in microbial respiration in the oceanic water column. He is interested in how microbes control the attenuation of organic matter in the mesopelagic ocean. |
Research Support | Microbial Oceanography |
| Elisa Halewood wallner@lifesci.ucsb.edu As the manager of the Carlson Microbial Oceanography Lab at UCSB, Halewood provides research and logistic support with respect to the analyses of dissolved organic matter. |
Research Support & Data Management | Microbial Oceanography |
| Keri Opalk Keri.opalk@gmail.com Opalk is a sea-going technician responsible for the collection and analysis of dissolved organic matter from a number of coastal and open ocean sites. |
Research Support | Chemical Oceanography |
| Rachel Sandquist rasandquist@ucsb.edu Sandquist joined the Carlson Microbial Oceanography group in Fall 2022 and is a graduate student with the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science at UCSB. As part of the BIOS-SCOPE team she will be taking part in cruises and investigating heterotrophic bacterioplankton communities and their role in the biogeochemical cycling of dissolved organic matter. |
Graduate Student | Microbial Oceanography |
| Kean University (a University of California Santa Barbara affiliate) | ||
| Shuting Liu liushut@kean.edu Liu moved on from her post-doctoral research at UCSB in 2022 to join the faculty at Kean University as an Assistant Professor, and remains a collaborator with the Carlson Microbial Oceanography lab and contributor to the BIOS-SCOPE project. Her research focuses on microbial degradation and transformation of DOM in seawater. She combines cutting edge techniques in microbial ecology, marine chemistry, and molecular microbiology to assess the linkages between microbial processes and the ability of specific lineages to respond to model compounds, natural and phytoplankton-derived DOM that spans a range of lability from labile to recalcitrant quality. She uses these techniques to evaluate the mechanisms of DOM decomposition and its role in the marine carbon and nitrogen cycles. |
Investigator | Microbial Oceanography |
| Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA | ||
| Rachel Spezzano Spezzano is a graduate student investigating phytoplankton, microbes, and export in the open ocean and in the context of global elemental cycles |
Doctoral Student | Microbial Oceanography |
| Fabian Wittmers fwittmers@mbl.edu Wittmers is a graduate student investigating the dynamics of phytoplankton, alongside interactions of viruses and microbes in the open ocean and in the context of global elemental cycles. |
Doctoral Student | Microbial Oceanography |
| Alexandra Z. Worden azworden@mbl.edu Worden is a Professor of Ocean EcoSystems Biology at GEOMAR. Her research focuses primarily on photosynthetic organisms, integrating across genomics, evolutionary biology, and ecology to explore microbial roles in carbon dioxide uptake and fate. Her group develops methods and technologies for systems biology and sea-going studies of unicellular eukaryotes and their viruses, and for quantifying their contributions to global primary production, activities in the deep sea, and trajectories in future oceans. |
Investigator | Molecular Evolution and Ecology |
| University of Exeter | ||
| Luis Bolaños L.Bolanos-Avellaneda@exeter.ac.uk Bolaños is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Exeter. He is a bioinformatician specialized on high-throughput -omics analysis. His research interests focus on investigating the long-term ecological and evolutionary processes that shape microbial marine ecosystems. Within BIOS-SCOPE, Luis contributes to the analysis of amplicon and metagenomic data. He has provided support in both field and laboratory work. |
Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Bioinformatics |
| Michelle Michelsen M.Michelsen@exeter.ac.uk Michelsen is the Lab Manager of the Temperton Group and provides logistics and research support with respect to sampling, library preparation, and sequencing of the viral fraction. |
Research Support | Marine Microbial Ecology |
| Ben Temperton B.Temperton@exeter.ac.uk A Senior Lecturer of Bioinformatics at the University of Exeter, Temperton is conducting research focused on integrative computational analyses of existing and new multi-‘omic datasets (including single-cell genomics) to better understand the interactions of microbial communities and their associated viruses with dissolved organic matter. |
Investigator | Microbial Bioinformatics |
| Joanna Warwick-Dugdale Jw698@exeter.ac.uk Warwick-Dugdale is a PhD student at the University of Exeter with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory studying marine microbial ecology. Her research interests lie in understanding how communities of the smallest marine organisms (i.e. bacteria; archaea; algae; viruses) function to drive systems at large scales (e.g. nutrient cycling). |
Doctoral Student | Marine Microbial Ecology |
| Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami | ||
| Hilary Close hclose@earth.miami.edu Close is an Associate Professor at RSMAS where she leads a research group focused on marine organic and isotope geochemistry. The Close Lab is working to clarify the roles of microbes and zooplankton in the production, degradation, and physical distribution of particulate organic matter in the water column. Research efforts within BIOS-SCOPE focus on identifying chemical and isotopic signatures of distinct microbial metabolisms and zooplankton contributions within particle size classes. |
Investigator | Marine Biogeochemistry |
| Lillian Henderson lillian.henderson@earth.miami.edu Henderson is a Ph.D. student examining the sources and degradative dynamics of organic carbon and nitrogen within size classes of particulate matter in marine water columns. |
Graduate Student | Marine Biogeochemistry |
| Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) | ||
| Herman Garcia herman.garcia@whoi.edu A C-CoMP Bridge to PhD fellow, Garcia is currently conducting targeted metabolomics on samples taken from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site. In doing so, he hopes to identify trends/change in metabolite concentrations over space and time, as well as further develop his laboratory and analytical skills. |
Postdoctoral Fellow | Marine Metabolomics |
| Noah Germolus ngermolus@whoi.edu A graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, Germolus currently uses derivatization techniques to measure dissolved metabolites, with an eye towards the non-microbial sources and sinks of these molecules (such as zooplankton excreta and photochemistry). |
Graduate Student | Marine Metabolomics |
| Elizabeth Kujawinski ekujawinski@whoi.edu Kujawinski is Senior Scientist at WHOI where she leads the Molecular Environmental Science Lab, a research group focused on the characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in different aquatic environments and the effect of abiotic and biotic processes on DOM composition in the oceans. As a BIOS-SCOPE Investigator, Kujawinski is applying metabolomics tools to characterize dissolved and cell-associated organic matter, and integrating chemical data with systems biology tools to understand the underpinnings of microbial consortia and their functions. |
Investigator | Marine Metabolomics |
| Krista Longnecker klongnecker@whoi.edu A Research Specialist at WHOI, Longnecker is supporting research in marine metabolomics, marine microbiology and the integration of system biology tools. She is also facilitating field activities and data integration. |
Research Support | Marine Metabolomics |
| Paloma Lopez paloma.lopez@whoi.edu Lopez is a research associate with the Saito research group. |
Research Support | Marine Bioinorganic Chemistry |
| Matt McIlvin mmcilvin@whoi.edu McIlvin is a research specialist with the Saito research group. |
Research Support | Marine Bioinorganic Chemistry |
| Erin McParland emcparland@whoi.edu McParland is a post-doctoral scholar at WHOI. She is interested in understanding which metabolites play an active role in the seasonal cycle of bulk organic matter at BATS and how specific compounds drive microbial interactions across different temporal and spatial scales. |
Postdoctoral Scholar | Marine Metabolomics |
| Annaliese Meyer anmeyer@whoi.edu Meyer is a member of the Saito research group and a joint program student in marine chemistry & geochemistry. |
Graduate Student | Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry |
| Mak Saito msaito@whoi.edu Saito specializes in marine bioinorganic chemistry and recently joined the BIOS-SCOPE project. The Saito Laboratory studies the interactions between metals and microbial life using a combination of cutting-edge analytical chemistry and proteomic technologies. |
Investigator | Marine Bioinorganic Chemistry |
| Melissa Soule msoule@whoi.edu Soule is the FT-MS Facility Manager and a Research Specialist in the Kujawinski research group at WHOI. |
Research Support | Marine Metabolomics |
| Gretchen Swarr gswarr@whoi.edu A Research Associate at WHOI, Swarr is facilitating metabolomics sample extraction and field planning. |
Research Support | Marine Metabolomics |
| Yuting Zhu yuting.zhu@whoi.edu A postdoctoral investigator at WHOI, Yuting Zhu’s research is focused on the cycling of marine dissolved metabolites. Her current work investigates the use of phytoplankton-derived organic matter by marine bacteria. |
Postdoctoral Scholar | Marine Metabolomics |
| Technical University Berlin | ||
| Falk Eigemann eigemann@tu-berlin.de Eigemann is a postdoc at the Technical University of Berlin in the group of Ferdi Hellweger. He is interested in microbial interactions, constraining the model. |
Postdoctoral Scholar | Marine Microbial Interactions |
| Ferdi Hellweger ferdi.hellweger@tu-berlin.de Hellweger is Professor of Water Quality Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin. He is interested in using mathematical models to understand microbial ecology. Specifically for BATS, he is applying the FluxNet inference method to develop dynamic carbon flux networks for the microbial community. In another project he is evaluating the correlations between phylogenetic distance and fitness differences of microbial populations at BATS. |
Computational Scholar | Microbial Ecology, Mathematical Modeling |
| Jutta Hoffmann jutta.hoffmann@tu-berlin.de Hoffmann is a PhD student interested in ecosystem modeling and correlations between genetic distance and fitness differences of microbial populations at BATS. |
Graduate Student | Marine Microbial Populations |