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Mangroves are widely regarded as unsuitable habitats for corals, and for this reason, very few studies have characterized coral populations in mangroves. However, as coral reefs decline rapidly, an emerging thread of research suggests that mangroves may be critical to the survival and evolution of corals, as well as the resilience of coral reefs. Karina’s dissertation research has endeavored to fill this critical gap in our knowledge and build a research program to investigate the role of mangrove habitats as important habitat for coral survival and evolution. Using model mangrove corals in the genus Porites, she combined longitudinal field work, population modeling, and genomics to study their survival, growth, and reproduction, as well as how key coral traits vary between reef and mangrove habitats. This research builds on the growing recognition that mangroves, as well as other reef-associated habitats, may prove critical to the survival of reef corals and the resilience of coral reefs.

Karina will be continuing this research on mangrove corals in her NSF postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is studying the mechanisms by which a predominately clonal (genetically poor) mangrove coral population can display phenotypic variation and respond to changing environmental conditions.

Despite the approximately 100,000 publications on the immune-related transcription factor NF-κB, very little data exists on this important transcription factor in organisms other than mammals and flies. In her dissertation, Leah examined the structure, activity, and biology of the transcription factor NF-κB in three basal phyla to explore the extent of conservation with more derived organisms as well as phylum-specific properties. These data suggest that the mechanism as well as level of activation of NF-κB in basal organisms is different from what is observed in higher organisms. Overall, these data represent the first functional characterization of NF-κB signaling proteins in an endangered coral, in any organisms basal to cnidarians (i.e., an evolutionary important sponge), and any organism outside the Kingdom Animalia (protists). These findings suggest that these seemingly simple organisms contain conserved innate immune-like pathways that may be regulated by NF-κB and provide information about the evolution, ecology, and diversification of this biologically important transcription factor.

Leah is currently a Scientist at CRISPR Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA working in Clinical Development on their Immuno-oncology programs.