Sep 24, 2020
Professor Laura Mydlarz was
fascinated with ocean life from a young age and now runs a marine
biology lab at a university. After studying tropical ecosystems and
coral reefs in college, she never looked back.
She brings her explorations across the Caribbean to listeners and
explains
Dr. Laura D. Mydlarz is a
professor of biology and an associate dean of the College of
Science at the University of Texas in Arlington. She shares her
passion for ocean life with listeners and discusses the intricate
and ancient immunity of
coral reefs and their importance to ocean ecology.
She notes that scientists often focus on the pathogen when consider
coral disease treatment, but she focuses more on understanding what
the host is doing to fight disease and studies coral immunity
systems. She looks mainly at reactions to coral infectious
diseases caused by bacteria, fungus and even some pathogenic
viruses; corals face such pathogens just like humans.
However, she explains, corals
are a much more ancient life form and they work with one type of
immunity—innate—whereas humans can use innate and acquired
immunity. However, their immunity is still much more complex than
scientists thought. She describes this intricate immunity, one that
must allow this other living organism, the symbiont algae, inside
it without fighting it.
Furthermore, the healthy algae is contributing a lot of resources
and food to the coral and pathogens can affect both life forms,
leading to
coral reefs dying. They need all the energy they can get to
mount an immune defense, and suffer when, for example, the symbiont
is no longer able to photosynthesize because of the color changes
from disease. She explains coral ecology in further detail and how
issues like climate change play a role.
Finally, she describes her more immediate goals, which include
understanding the proper or healthy immune response of coral. Thus
far, they've found interesting implications regarding mitochondrial
defense systems and melanin presence.
To find out more, see her lab's
website: themydlarzlab.com
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK