“They are so green!” Dr. Katie DuBois exclaimed as I held the fluorescent green test tube in my hand. The contents of this test tube may look like some vile concoction from a mad science lab, but they are in fact the remnants of a marine plant called eelgrass, Zostera marina.
The Cherr Lab has been working on defensins in reproductive biology. Defensins (including ß-defensins) are part of the innate immune system that is understood to be the key defense against disease in invertebrates; homologous peptides exist in invertebrates as “antimicrobial peptides”.
BML researchers (the Cherr Laboratory) are working to addresses molecules and physiological mechanisms involved in fertilization and early development. This research has focused on fertilization biology using plants, invertebrates, lower vertebrates, and mammals.
The Jim Clegg laboratory has worked on the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms that allow certain invertebrates to live in what we consider to be highly stressful environments. Some of these animals can be said to be “extremophiles” because they thrive under conditions that kill most animals. These conditions include extremes of temperature and pressure, desiccation, anoxia, various forms of radiation and very high salinity.
