The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Congratulations to Dr. Mark Martindale and Dr. Christine Schnitzler for recently receiving a UF Office of Research Award. Two out of only fifteen funded UF Office of Research awards were made to Whitney Laboratory faculty's research - both awards are collaborative with other colleges on campus!
Dr. Mark Martindale and Dr. Christine Schnitzler will be collaborating with the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering Materials Science Department. The proposal is to engineer a new in vivo model system that can be (1) examined in situ; (2) genetically manipulated for experimental design; and (3) programmed to explore key features of biomineralization never addressed before. They will use non-mineralizing cnidarian organisms (sea anemones and hydroids) that can be genetically programmed to secrete non-native proteins to drive biomineralization within a 3D bioprinted and to fabricate novel 3D biomineralized composites.