Updates

Our paper, led by Kaden Muffett with Maggie Sogin's group, is now out in Nature Communications! It was previously on bioRxiv as 'Low-abundance taxa drive host microbiome response to temperature stress'. We followed two lines of the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana under chronic and acute heat stress, and found that their microbiomes responded very differently: the more heat-sensitive line's microbiome was strongly disrupted, while the more tolerant line's microbiome changed over time but not with temperature. Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-79034-2 

In March 2026, I guest lectured for UC Merced's Cooperative-based Graduate Research Experience (COOGRE) class, a workshop-based graduate-level course. I introduced the basic ideas behind mathematical modelling, using Brownian motion and bacterial motility as a case study. 

In March 2026, I attended the American Mathematical Society, Western Sectional in Boise, Idaho.
You can see my slides here, where I discussed our most recent paper about the fluid dynamics of bobtail squid!

We have submitted a third new paper, and a copy is now available on ArXiv! In this paper, we examine a fluid-dynamics model of the dynamics within the mantle cavity of Euprymna scolopes, the Hawaiian Bobtail Squid. This model addresses how thermal stress affects the ability of young squid to capture bacteria, which are essential to their survival.  Across a range of conditions mimicking changes in squid breathing dynamics (as expected under thermal stress), we show that bacterial capture is compromised. Read more here!

We have submitted another new paper, and a copy is now available on BioArXiv! This paper explores the impacts of thermal stress on the anemone Exaiptasia diaphana. It was led by my collaborator, Kaden Muffett, who conducted the experiments and performed the analyses. The key outcome was the identification of a small number of conserved bacteria, which decline before the aiptasia. Anemones are often used as environmental indicators; thus, these bacteria can be thought of as the indicators' indicators. Read more here!

We have submitted our new paper, and a copy is now available on ArXiv! This paper examines models of biofilm selection through the lens of a range of modern mathematical techniques. It emerged from a project alongside Daravuth Cheam, who has been working on equivalent experiments in Vibrio Fischeri. This paper poses the question of what types of data can be used to accurately measure the parameters that characterise the dynamics in these models. Read more here!

This coming summer, following the success last summer reading through Acheson's 'Elementary Fluid Dynamics' with Kyra Ruiz and Antonia Peters, we'll be reading Randall LeVeque's Finite Difference Methods for Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations. Click here for more info!

In January 2025, I attended the Mathematics of Data, Dynamics, and Life Sciences (MDDLS) meeting at the University of California, Irvine.
You can read about my poster presentation here, where I discussed my work on modelling symbiosis establishment in juvenile Euprymna scolopes.