Whitney Lab Participates in First International Cassiopea Workshop

Whitney Lab Participates in First International Cassiopea Workshop

Published: Monday, June 5, 2017

Whitney Lab “Team Cassiopea,” consisting of Graduate Student Casandra Newkirk, Graduate Student Bailey Steinworth and Postdoctoral Research Associate Leslie Babonis, traveled to the first international Cassiopea Workshop, which was held May 12-14, 2017, on Key Largo. Participants from around the world, including Brazil, Mexico, Germany and Hong Kong, met and learned from legendary leaders in the field of scyphozoan cnidarian biology to discuss future work on “the upside down jellyfish” as a new model for numerous important research directions, including coral reef bleaching, climate change, biogeography, toxicology, biomechanics and even behavior. Lectures were mixed with fieldwork where participants were able to collect and perform experiments at the meeting. The meeting was hosted by Dr. Bill Fitt of the University of Georgia and Dr. Monica Medina of Penn State University. Researchers from Whitney Lab are making solid contributions to both the comparative and functional genomics as well as various aspects of the cellular and developmental biology of these intriguing creatures.