Angus Thies

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Ph.D. in Marine Biology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

At SIO I study the physiology of photosymbioses: symbiotic relationships between animals and microalgae (i.e. corals, anemones, jellyfish, and sea slugs). Much of my work focuses on corals, the animals responsible for building coral reefs. Coral reefs support thousands of species and human communities worldwide yet, despite their global importance, we lack a coherent understanding of how these symbiotic partners interact at the molecular level to maintain healthy symbiosis. Alarmingly, the coral-algal photosymbiosis degenerates under elevated ocean temperatures (a result of anthropogenic CO2 emissions) leading to termination of the symbiosis (coral bleaching), and often, mass coral mortality. Global mass mortality events now occur annually yet we still lack a molecular explanation for why the symbiosis breaks down. My research has four focuses: (1) to identify the proteins responsible for nutrient-exchange in healthy coral-algal symbioses, (2) to characterize how these mechanisms compensate for normal environmental challenges, (3) to compare the physiology of healthy vs. bleached corals, and (4) to explore if these mechanisms are conserved in animals where photosymbiosis evolved independently. By addressing these questions I hope to apply my findings to predict the effects of climate change on coral species, design effective conservation policies, or genetically manipulate organisms for conservation or biotechnology purposes.