The Weis Lab
at Oregon State University
Welcome to the Weis Lab
Coral reef ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots that provide valuable environmental and economic services to half a billion people globally including millions in the US. Reefs are faced with almost complete destruction by the end of the century due to global warming unless humanity can cap global temperature rise.
Corals are an intimate symbiosis between the coral animal and millions of single-celled algae in the family Symbiodiniaceae that reside inside of coral cells. The algae provide photosynthetically-derived sugars to the host in return for nutrients and a habitat. Dysfunction of the symbiosis, caused by global warming and other human-caused impacts, is the driver of coral bleaching and is causing widespread reef degradation globally.
Coral biologists are working together to develop a broad array of solutions to help with the coral reef crisis. As a part of these efforts, discovery has a critical role to play.
Our group investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the coral-algal partnership. We are interested in the establishment, maintenance and breakdown of these cooperative associations and approach the study of these phenomena at the cellular and molecular level. The Weis group has used a variety of model associations in these examinations and, in recent years, has focused on the tropical sea anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana, commonly called Aiptasia.
Recent News
September 2022 - Olivia Burleigh is a new grad student joining the lab. Welcome Olivia!
September 2022 - Erick White, Jun Cai and Sam Bedgood are headed to Cnidofest 2022!
August 2022 - After 26 years in one place, the Weis Lab moved out of Cordley Hall. We will be in the Coast Range Building off campus for a couple of years while Cordley is renovated. All the animals and people made it to CRB just fine!
Spring 2022 - Grad student Val Sawiccy received the OSU Frolander award Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistants. This is awarded to a single student per year for the whole campus. Congratulations Val!
9 June 2022 - Congratulations newly minted Ph.D, Shumpei Maruyama! Good luck at your postdoc.
6 June 2022 - Welcome to the lab summer intern Sofia Blair.
3 Jan 2022 - Welcome to the lab, visiting Masters Student Keyla Plichon
2 Jan 2022 - Welcome to the lab, postdoc Samuel Bedgood
We are asking questions about host-symbiont interactions such as:
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What are the mechanisms of recognition during onset and maintenance of the symbiosis?
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What role does the host innate immune system play in onset, maintenance and breakdown of the symbiosis?
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What are the dynamics of inter-partner cell proliferation during algal colonization of hosts?
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What cellular processes take part in symbiont loss during bleaching?
Gaining an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that underpin the healthy and dynamically stable coral-algal symbiosis will provide targets for the development of solutions to helping corals cope with a changing climate, including in breeding programs, assisted evolution and genetic engineering of resilient corals and symbionts.
Aiptasia Symbiosis Resource
The Aiptasia Symbiosis Resource is a community of researchers and educators that openly shares resources for the laboratory model organism Aiptasia (Exaiptasia diaphana) with the aim of training the next generation of scientists and providing foundational information to conservation efforts underway to save the world’s coral reefs.
