PERSONNEL

Mary E. Rumpho-Kennedy, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry, University of Maine.
As a plant physiologist/biochemist, Mary’s research focuses on the unusual association between algal (Vaucheria litorea) chloroplasts and a marine mollusc (Elysia chlorotica), resulting in photosynthetic sea slugs. Her lab is conducting research to characterize the symbiont plastids and demonstrate horizontal gene transfer between the algal nucleus and the sea slug. Click here for more information on Mary’s research and lab personnel.

Mary Tyler, PhD, Professor of Zoology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine.
As a developmental biologist, this other Mary works on the development of both invertebrate and vertebrate organisms.  Her major focus recently has been on developing educational multimedia materials for college-level courses in developmental biology.  Click here for more information on Mary’s work on educational materials.

Farahad P. Dastoor, PhD, Lecturer, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Maine.
Farahad has been fascinated by symbiosis/kleptoplasty since his early college days.  He is very interested in trying to figure out how sea slugs can acquire chloroplasts from an alga and how they maintain functional proteins thereafter.  He started this quest with an MSc degree in Microbiology (UBC, 1991) in basic bacterial physiology and a PhD (UBC, 1999) also in Microbiology, where he tried to engineer chimeric organisms.  For the past 4 years he has worked as a post-doctoral fellow and then a research associate with Mary Rumpho.

Jared Worful, MS Student, Dept. of Biochemistry, Microbiology & Molecular Biology, University of Maine.
Jared received a BS in biochemistry from the University of Maine, and is presently working towards his MS degree in Mary Rumpho’s lab.  He has been successfully raising Elysia chlorotica and Vaucheria litorea for the past several years, and has worked out techniques to rear a number of generations of the sea slug in the lab. 

Ron Kozlowski, MS, Director of the Bio Media Lab, Department Biological Sciences, University of Maine.
Ron is director of the Bio Media Lab, a multimedia facility that specializes in creating educational materials for college-level courses.  He has a MS in Biology from the University of Maine. He created the Bio Media Lab along with Mary Tyler at the University of Maine.  Click here for more information on Ron.

Matthew Tyler, BA, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maine.
Matt recently graduated from Swarthmore College in Film and Media Studies, and is presently working in the Bio Media Lab as a graphics and interface designer. He designed the interface for this Web site. He is an independent film maker and musician. 

Undergraduate Students
Kara Soule, Biochemistry Major
Crystal Zagwyn, Biochemistry Major
Jared Tucker, Biochemistry Major
Stefany Almendinger, Biochemistry Major

Past-Contributers
Dr. Rachel Biron (Dartmouth College)
Dr. Theodore Fox (Univ. of W. Florida)
Dr. Brian Green (Univ. of PA)
Dr. Jungho Lee (Seoul National Univ., Korea)
Dr. James Manhart (Texas A&M University)
Dr. Cesar Mujer (Vital Probes, Mayfield, PA)
Ms. Sirisha Pochareddy (Indiana Univ. School of Medicine)
Dr. Elizabeth Summer (Texas A&M University)