Exploration of Deepwater Habitats off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for Biotechnology Potential

Esther Guzmán

Principal Investigator/Co-Chief Scientist; Research Professor, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University

Esther Guzmán is a research professor at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University and directs the cancer cell biology group. She is co-chief scientist for this project. She received her Bachelor of Science in molecular biology from Salem-Teikyo University and her doctorate in biomedical sciences with an emphasis in Immunology from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on finding marine natural products that have the potential to be novel therapeutics against cancer. She has participated in eight prior research expeditions and was excited to get back to sea for this project.

John Reed

Co-Chief Scientist; Affiliate Research Professor, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University

John Reed is recently retired after 47 years at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU). Currently he is an affiliate research professor at HBOI-FAU and was co-chief scientist on this expedition. John specializes in research and conservation of coral reefs, including deepwater Lophelia and Oculina coral reefs off the southeastern United States and mesophotic coral reefs of the Caribbean, Bahamas, Cuba, and Florida. He has conducted over 60 research expeditions as chief scientist, visiting 40 countries. John’s research resulted in the establishment of a 2,330-square-kilometer (900-square-mile) Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern (OHAPC), the first HAPC in the world to protect deepwater coral. His research on the deepwater Lophelia reefs off the southeastern United States resulted in the protection of 59,570 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) of deepwater coral habitat from North Carolina to south Florida. John’s research on deepwater reefs began 48 years ago when he started at HBOI. He has hundreds of publications, reports, and articles on deepwater coral reef research and biomedical research. John received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami and his Master of Science, specializing in marine ecology, from FAU.

Priscilla Winder

Research Scientist, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University

Priscilla Winder is a natural products chemist at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, where she looks at the interesting chemical compounds of deep-sea marine organisms for their potential to treat human diseases. She received her doctorate from Florida Atlantic University. Priscilla loves being out at sea and has been on several expeditions off Florida and in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. On this expedition, Priscilla hoped to re-collect a sponge previously collected by Harbor Branch in 1996, which contains a new compound that is a very potent antiparasitic.

Courtney Brooks

Outreach and Marine Education Specialist, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University

Courtney Brooks is an outreach and marine education specialist at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute where she works closely with researchers to share their work with people of all ages through exhibits, activities, afterschool programs, community events, and more. Courtney received her Bachelor of Science in marine biology and sustainable aquaculture from Unity Environmental University. Promoting environmental literacy and conservation are just a few of the things she enjoys about her career in marine science. This was Courtney’s very first scientific expedition and she was excited to help the team while at sea and to share their discoveries and her experience with the public upon their return.

Megan Conkling

Research Scientist, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University

Megan Conkling is a research scientist at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and is part of the Sponge Biotechnology research program. She received a bachelor’s degree in marine science from Florida Gulf Coast University and a master’s in biology and a doctorate in geosciences from FAU. Her research focuses on the development of sponge cell lines for biomedical and habitat restoration applications. On this expedition, Megan cryopreserved sponge cells to expand the HBOI Sponge Cell Biobank with deep-sea marine sponges from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for future research.

Maria Cristina Diaz

Adjunct Faculty, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University/Associate Researcher, Museo Marino De Margarita (Venezuela)

Maria Cristina Diaz has studied marine sponges for the past 40 years and has a doctorate in organismal biology from University of California Santa Cruz. She studies phylogenetic relationships, uses molecular tools to reveal sponge microbial associates and their metabolisms (i.e., nitrification), and collaborates with natural product chemists on the process of biodiscovery and bioprospecting. In addition, she has described unknown sponge taxa (species, genera, and families). Since 2016, she has worked with the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University and NOAA scientists evaluating the biodiversity and distribution of marine sponges from mesophotic and deep habitats of the Gulf of Mexico (Pulley Ridge, Flower Garden Banks, Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas), Cuba, and the U.S. East Coast (North Carolina to Florida). By teaching summer courses about Caribbean sponges (Museo Marino, STRI, Mote Marine Lab, Martinique, etc.), participating in educational documentaries (The Shape of Life), developing field guides for Mesophotic sponge fauna, and writing online articles about sponges, Maria Cristina has demonstrated her interest in raising public awareness about this unique and ecologically important animal group.

Samantha Flounders

Remotely Operated Vehicle Technician – Undersea Vehicles Program, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Samantha Flounders received a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. After graduation, she operated boats on Kaneohe Bay and then in San Francisco Bay. She then joined the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, where she was an officer of the deck operating NOAA’s research vessels throughout the Gulf, Caribbean, and along the U.S. Atlantic Coast. Samantha has been with the Undersea Vehicles Program (UVP) at the University of North Carolina Wilmington since 2022 and has been on 11 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) missions and conducted more than 200 ROV dives.

Kirstie Francis

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Mote Marine Laboratory

Kirstie Francis is a postdoctoral research fellow at Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota, Florida, where she is working to identify bioactive natural products produced by marine microorganisms. She received her doctorate in 2021 from Florida Atlantic University under the mentorship of Amy Wright and Esther Guzmán at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Previously, she completed a fellowship through the National Academies of Science’s Gulf Research Program, where she worked as a data manager for NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information on the Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities portfolio. This was Kirstie’s third research expedition.

Carol Kim

Knauss Policy Fellow, NOAA Ocean Exploration

Carol Kim received her doctorate in marine-estuarine environmental sciences program from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Barnard College, Columbia University. Her dissertation explored microbial community structure, interactions, and metabolic potentials to better understand biogeochemical cycling in coastal ecosystems. Carol is a microbial ecologist with expertise in sediment biogeochemistry, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Her research has focused on microbial communities in restored salt marshes, microbial community interactions with electrical cable bacteria, and microbial carbon sources driving arsenic release in Bangladesh aquifers.

Madison Lytle

Graduate Student, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Madison Lytle is a deckhand for the Undersea Vehicles Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a graduate student in the university’s Coastal Plant Ecology Lab, where she is studying seagrasses using remote sensing. She has volunteered as a deckhand and support diver for various projects at the university.

Jason White

Remotely Operated Vehicle Technician, Undersea Vehicles Program, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Jason White is the lead remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pilot/technician for the Undersea Vehicles Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Jason has worked with UVP since 2013 and has been on 50 ROV missions and conducted more than 500 ROV dives. He has a bachelor’s degree in marine science and meteorology from North Carolina State University. After graduation, Jason worked for C & C Technologies as a hydrographic surveyor in the Gulf of Mexico and as a satellite oceanographer in the commercial fishing industry for DigitalGlobe in Herndon, Virginia.