RESEARCHER BIOS
Dr. Amy Wright - Principal Investigator - DBMR Division Director, HBOI
Dr. Shirley Pomponi - Co-Principal Investigator - Vice President, HBOI
John Reed - Chief Scientist / Co-Principal Investigator - DBMR, HBOI
Kathleen Janda - Microbiology - DBMR, HBOI
Tara Pitts - Microbiology - DBMR, HBOI
Gail Samples - Chemistry - DBMR, HBOI
Jane Thompson - Molecular Biology - DBMR, HBOI
Dr. Alan Duckworth - Post Doc / Aquaculture - DBMR, HBOI
Priscilla Winder - Chemistry - DBMR, HBOI
Kelly Marville - Post Doc / Chemistry - DBMR, HBOI
Jill Roberts - Chemistry - DBMR, HBOI
Wolfram Bruck - Post Doc / Molecular Biology - DBMR, HBOI
Dr. Susan Sennett - Cell Biology - DBMR, HBOI
Mark Carroll - @Sea Photo-Journalist
Amy E. Wright, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Biomedical Marine Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Inst.
For the past 23 years, Dr. Wright has conducted research in the field of natural products chemistry.
She earned her doctorate in Organic Chemistry from the University for Califronia, Riverside working
under the direction of Dr. James Sims. Currently she is the Director of the Division of Biomedical
Marine Research and the Head of the Natural Products Chemistry group. Her research program focuses
on the exploration of deep water organisms as the source of novel marine natural products. Current
research projects emphasize drug discovery, evaluation of the ecological role of marine natural products;
applications of natural products chemistry to systematics of the Porifera and deep water Gorgonacea;
development of micro-analytical methods for monitoring aqua and cell cultures used in the production
of therapeutically important marine natural products; studies on the role of microbial associates in
the production of therapeutically interesting natural products; and identification of the gene clusters
responsible for polyketide synthesis and use of the same in recombinant production of natural and
"un-natural" natural productions.
Shirley A. Pomponi, Ph.D.
Vice President and Director of Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Principal Investigator, New Pharmacological Resources Project
Shirley Pomponi is one of the 3 co-principal investigators of the Islands in the Stream 2002
Expedition for Discovery of New Resources with Pharmaceutical Potential. She has led numerous
research expeditions to the tropical western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean, and to the Galapagos
Islands, Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Seychelles, Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands,
Cape Verde, and Lake Baikal, Russia. Her research interests are on the systematics and
cell biology of marine sponges, one of the primary sources of chemicals with pharmaceutical
potential. A major emphasis of her research is on the development of cell culture methods
for sustainable use of marine resources for drug discovery and development. Dr. Pomponi is
a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the
National Research Council's Committee on Exploration of the Seas. She grew up in southern
New Jersey, received her bachelor's degree in biology from the College of St. Elizabeth,
and received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Miami,
RSMAS. She has authored or co-authored more than 70 publications in marine biotechnology,
biodiversity, cell and molecular biology, systematics and natural products chemistry.
John K. Reed
Senior Research Specialist
Division of Biomedical Marine Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Co-Principal Investigator, New Pharmacological Resources Project
John Reed is one of 3 co-principal investigators of the Islands in the Stream 2002 Expedition
for Discovery of New Resources with Pharmaceutical Potential. Mr. John Reed is Department Head
of the Sample Acquisition and Taxonomy Program at DBMR for biomedical research to discover
pharmaceutically active compounds from marine organisms. Mr. Reed is Chief Scientist for DBMR
in charge of supervising and organizing >60 worldwide collection expeditions for biomedical
research with HBOI's research vessels, submersibles, and land-based expeditions. He is responsible
for curating 30,000 specimens of marine organisms in DBMR's taxonomic museum collection and
managing the collection database, photographic library, and videotape library. Mr Reed is also
the Diving Safety Officer for all diving activities from Harbor Branch vessels and by a staff
of 60 research divers. He has logged 35 deep-water lockout dives with helium-oxygen from
Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles, logged >2000 scientific scuba dives, and >150 scientific dives
in the Johnson-Sea-Link and Clelia submersibles. Mr. Reed's research on the deep-water Oculina
coral banks off Florida since 1976 has resulted in over 45 publications and the establishment
of a 300 sq.mi. Marine Protected Area for these reefs. Mr. Reed received his B.S. from the
University of Miami and M.S. specializing in marine ecology from Florida Atlantic University
in 1975.
Kathleen E. Janda
Research Specialist - Microbiology
Division of Biomedical Marine Research (DBMR)
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Kathleen Janda is a Research Specialist in the Fermentation Group of the Division Biomedical
Marine Research. Kathleen received her B.A. from Canisius College, Buffalo, New York and has
a Masters degree from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Kathleen has been with
BMR for 18 years participating in over 30 collection expeditions both on HBOI's Research vessels
and land-based operations. She has made over 300 collecting dives on these expeditions and
is rated to dive to 150 feet. Since joining HBOI she has completed the science diving requirements
and is a certified PADI Rescue Diver. When on the expeditions, Kathleen is responsible for
the microbiology component of the collections, isolating the microorganisms from the sponges,
sediment, and water samples taken in hopes that a microorganism is producing the active component
responsible for the activity in the many bioassays. DBMR has a culture collection with over
16,000 microorganisms that have been isolated during the past 20 years. Once back in the HBOI
Fermentation Lab, these microbes are fermented, extracted, and tested in the bioassays for
biomedical activity.
Tara Pitts
Research Specialist
Division of Biomedical Marine Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Tara Pitts has worked in DBMR for over 15 years. She has participated in many research expeditions with HBOI's ships
and submersibles. Tara got her BS in marine biology from Florida Tech in Melbourne, Florida. She also has received
an AS in Medical Laboratory Technology from Indian River Community College. Tara started working with DBMR in the
microbiology group and now works in the biological screening group. She tests our sample extracts for any type of
biological activity. The majority of our testing these days is on cancer cells. Tara also works on mechanism of
action studies of the active pure compounds that are isolated through biologically guided purification. On this
expedition Tara will be focusing on helping the microbiology group with their isolations as well as helping in
the daily processing of the collected samples.
Jane H. Thompson
Research Assistant III
Division of Biomedical Marine Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Jane Thompson joined the Harbor Branch Division of Biomedical Marine Research in 2000. Jane has
worked in biomedical research as a molecular biologist for 19 years, in New Orleans, New York and
now in Florida. Her research has investigated gene expression of in vivo and in vitro models of
inflammation with special emphasis on nitric oxide synthase. Using similar models, Jane has looked
at the effects of the herbal extracts from Uncaria tomentosa and Croton lechleri. She has worked
with Dr. Craig Cohen to develop an ELISA assay for HIV and with Dr. Mark Bielke to develop a quantitative
test for viral load in HIV infected patients. With other researchers, she has worked on models of
corneal wound healing and mapped the gene for muscle glycogen phosphorylase. For a short time, Jane
was Laboratory Director in a DNA paternity lab. Her current work with marine sponges is the most
interesting and challenging work of her career. Jane has 14 publications in peer review journals and
one book chapter. She received her B.S. from Florida Atlantic University and has done graduate work
at Louisiana State Medical School.
Wolfram M. Bruck, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow - Microbiology
Division of Biomedical Marine Research (DBMR)
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
Wolfram is a Microbiologist and a Molecular Biologist originally from Cologne, Germany. After finishing his
undergraduate work in Minnesota, he earned his Masters degree in 1998 developing a novel PCR-ELISA for the diagnosis
of whooping chough at the University of Manchester Medical School (UK). In 2003, he finished his Ph.D. at the
University of Reading in southern England where he researched the modulation of the infant gut microflora. Wolfram
has been with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution since April 2003 where he mainly focuses on the microflora of
the marine sponge Discodermia and the occurrence of cyanobacteria in other deep-water sponges.
Alan Duckworth, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Division of Biomedical Marine Research (DBMR)
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
For the last 3 years, Alan Duckworth has been a postdoc fellow in the Division of Biomedical Marine
Research. His main research goal is to develop feeding regimes and farming methods suitable for
commercially culturing sponges and ascidians for their anticancer compounds. Alan is also studying
feeding patterns and food competition among sponges, ascidians and bivalves, marine organisms vital
for the continuing health of rocky and coral reef habitats throughout the world. He has logged over
800 scientific dives, and obtained his PhD form the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, in 2000.
Mark Carrol
@Sea Photo-Journalist
This is Mark Carroll's fouth mission with @Sea and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.
On previous assignments, he covered lemon sharks off the coast of Brazil and deep-sea biomedical research
in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Netherland Antilles.
Mark's photographs have appeared in magazines such as Smithsonian, Backpacker and Sea Kayaker and in
conjunction with USA Today and the Discovery Channel, while his short film and multimedia projects have
been well received at numerous film festivals.
He studied at Boston University, earning degrees in both marine biology and photojournalism and has worked
in television with explorer Robert Ballard's JASON Project, National Geographic, History Channel and
PBS's science series NOVA.
His online gallery can be found at www.outerside.com
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