Ph.D. Student | athies@ucsd.edu
Angus is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Tresguerres Lab. From Boston, MA, Angus developed an early interest in Marine Biology and chose to pursue his passion as an undergraduate at UC San Diego. While at UCSD, he explored the field of Marine Biology by studying predictors of coral reef health (School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies), animal husbandry (New England Aquarium), marine mammal bioacoustics (Sirovic Lab, SIO), and microbial contamination in estuaries (Oregon Sea Grant/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). These experiences taught him a suite of molecular biology and field research techniques which he sought to expand as a volunteer and later as a BS/MS student in the Tresguerres Lab. Research concerning pH regulation, host-symbiont biology, and invertebrate systems particularly interests him. Following his MS degree, Angus worked as a Lab Assistant (SIO) and Systems Engineer/Biological Consultant (D&K Engineering) for a year, before returning to the Tresguerres Lab to start his doctoral study as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Angus is additionally supported by the ARCS Foundation.
Research Interests:
- Cellular mechanisms supporting invertebrate-algal symbioses (nutrient exchange, growth control, cell signaling)
- Development of new tools to study host-symbiont interactions
- Application of marine model systems to study human health
Angus’s research is focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms governing coral-symbiont interactions. He is currently building on his M.S. research pertaining to the delivery of nitrogenous molecules to intracellular symbionts in corals and starting new projects concerning coral symbiosomes.
Angus volunteers as a Peer-Mentor at SIO and mentors undergraduate students in the Tresguerres Lab. He is supported by a Scripps Fellowship (2019), the NSF GRFP (2019), and the ARCS Foundation (2021).
Selected Publications:
- A. B. Thies, A. R. Quijada-Rodriguez, H. Zhouyao, D. Weihrauch, M. Tresguerres, A Rhesus channel in the coral symbiosome membrane suggests a novel mechanism to regulate NH 3 and CO 2 delivery to algal symbionts. Sci. Adv. 8 (2022).
- Barott, K. L.; Thies, A. B.; Tresguerres, M. V-Type H + -ATPase in the Symbiosome Membrane Is a Conserved Mechanism for Host Control of Photosynthesis in Anthozoan Photosymbioses. R. Soc. Open Sci. 2022, 9 (1). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211449.
- Barott KL, Venn AA, Thies AB, Tambutté S, Tresguerres M. 2020. Regulation of coral calcification by the acid-base sensing enzyme soluble adenylyl cyclase. Biochem Biophys Res Commun.
- Tresguerres M, Clifford AM, Harter TS, Roa JN, Thies AB, Yee DP, Brauner CJ. 2020. Evolutionary links between intra- and extracellular acid-base regulation in fish and other aquatic animals. J Exp Zool Part A Ecol Integr Physiol [Internet]:1–17.
- Barron M, Thies A, Espinoza J, Barott K, Hamdoun A, Tresguerres M. 2018. A vesicular Na+/Ca2+ exchanger in coral calcifying cells. PLoS One13: e0205367.