Andre LaBuda

Andre's M.S. thesis examines the ecological benefits of kleptoplasty in diverse sacoglossans, a subject of surprising controversy in the recent literature on photosynthetic sea slugs. He has presented at the American Malacological Society 2018 meeting in Hawaii and performed an extended field campaign at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, with funding support from the Libby Hyman scholarship from the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology, and a grant from the Conchologists of America. We are collaborating with Prof. Holly Moeller at UC Santa Barbara to better understand how the photophysiology of sacoglossans impacts their ecology.

 

Andre plans to enter a Ph.D. program after completing his M.S. He previously worked for a public aquarium in Las Vegas and in the biotech industry in Philadelphia between his B.A. degree and joining the lab.