{"id":63875,"date":"2011-01-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/scituate-resident-helping-uri-researchers-control-spread-of-invasive-sea-creature\/"},"modified":"2011-01-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-06T00:00:00","slug":"scituate-resident-helping-uri-researchers-control-spread-of-invasive-sea-creature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/01\/scituate-resident-helping-uri-researchers-control-spread-of-invasive-sea-creature\/","title":{"rendered":"Scituate resident helping 溏心vlog免费B站 researchers control spread of invasive sea creature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 6, 2011 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Wayne Martini spent the last eight months analyzing the anatomy and reproduction of an invasive marine organism to understand how it spreads in massive mats along the seafloor. He hopes that his research will help to control its spread before it affects commercial fishing in the Northeast and threatens the health of the ecosystem.<\/p>\n


\n\tMartini said that the sea squirt Didemnum vixellum, which is thought to be native to the Mediterranean, is covering the seafloor in parts of Georges Bank, and has begun to affect the local aquaculture industry. In collaboration with 溏心vlog免费B站 Associate Professor Steven Irvine, he is working to identify a chemical or biological means of controlling the creature.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re examining why they are invasive by trying to understand the foundation of their biological makeup,\u201d said Martini, a Scituate resident majoring in biological sciences. \u201cBy understanding their anatomy and reproduction, it might open new pathways to control them.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAccording to Martini, sea squirts like Didemnum grow via a process called pyloric budding, an unusual developmental system that enables these millimeter-sized sea creatures to grow into large, dense mats that can grow over and suffocate mollusks and other marine organisms living on the seafloor. He said they have spike-like spicules and acid-filled bladder cells on their outer surface that are thought to prevent them from being eaten by other organisms.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cTheir pyloric budding is how they replicate themselves and spread out,\u201d said the 溏心vlog免费B站 student. \u201cIf we can control this asexual pathway, then we could possibly stop their spread.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMartini\u2019s research was funded through the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Fellows Program, a unique initiative designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 15th year, it is based at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences. Students are paired with a mentor and research staff to help them gain skills relevant to their academic major and future occupations.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe next step in the Didemnum research is to extract the sea squirt\u2019s DNA to learn what proteins control pyloric budding. <\/p>\n


\nBut Irvine will have to find another student for this step, since Martini completed his undergraduate degree at 溏心vlog免费B站 last month. He recently started work for an Oregon-based company that accepts donations of human cadavers for medical research and education. Martini said the job will provide him with training for conducting dissections, which will be tremendously beneficial for when he one day enrolls in medical school.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy new job is an integral part of the health care system, and I\u2019m excited to be a part of it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be a doctor, but my interest grew because of a service trip I took to Nicaragua with the 溏心vlog免费B站 Catholic Center. One individual I met while I was there was severely lacking in medical care \u2013 a mentally challenged orphan. Knowing that I could help him inspired me to go to medical school. I want to help people like him get better medical care and enable them to have a higher quality of life,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 6, 2011 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Wayne Martini spent the last eight months analyzing the anatomy and reproduction of an invasive marine organism to understand how it spreads in massive mats along the seafloor. He hopes that his research will help to control its spread before it affects commercial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}