Climate change and environmental stressors are not the only threats for coral reefs worldwide. Overfishing allows other reef organisms such as algae to crowd out corals. This has a snowball effect that alters the battlefield corals face.

“There is something about certain plant species that makes them hotspots for transmitting infections, when an infected bee visits these flowers, they might leave the parasite behind to be picked up by the next visiting bee.”

A multidisciplinary team of experts in virology and computer modeling has quickly assembled at San Diego State University to learn more about how the new coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads in the environment and how its trajectory can be better predicted.

“Roland believed in the power of education,” said Cameron Smurthwaite, who studied under Wolkowicz and became a close friend. “Roland believed that science could bridge gaps between classes and people, and that education was a part of this.”

The nearly $1 million grant will enable Nicholas Shikuma to further explore how bacteria cause metamorphosis in marine animals and corals.

“My graduate students are stressed about the impact this will have on their research,” Shikuma said. “Among my undergraduate students, some are seniors who are sad to leave their friends since this is their last semester in college, and I can relate to that.”

Forest Rohwer has been awarded $2 million to explore ways to help coral reefs adapt to climate change. He is one of 15 scientists from different research institutions around the world chosen by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to receive investigator awards to pursue research under the Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative (SASI).

By scraping tubeworms off the bottom of boats in San Diego Bay to study them, SDSU researchers discovered a beneficial bacterium that aids in establishing colonies could also be a boon for human health, because the same process might already take place in the human gut.

A study released today in Nature Microbiology reveals patterns of a virus that half the people in the world are carrying. The collaboration of 117 scientists across the globe focuses on crAssphage, a virus that feeds on human gut bacteria.