Hi, I’m Sanna!

I grew up living super close to the ocean (and still), and I think being near/in the ocean all the time made 'little me' want to understand more about what goes on under the water. During high school, I was always most comfortable with maths (which actually came in super handy when I realised that biology involved a lot of numbers!), but I was most interested in biology, especially the plant and animal parts, and, especially especially, the ocean parts. So, straight after high school, I decided to do a marine science degree at the University of Wollongong.

Me at age 3 (on the right) looking pretty stoked to be looking at fish – the aquarium was (and still is) one of my favourite places to visit!

At the time, I didn’t really realise that marine ‘science’ is different to marine ‘biology’, so I actually learnt a lot more geology and physical oceanography than I was expecting. While some of this was interesting to me (and a lot of it was NOT…), the classes that excited me the most were the ones where I got to learn about ecology and evolution. Corals came into the picture when I took a few subjects led by a coral researcher that had a great teaching style, and super interesting coral facts/examples. So, when it came time to start finding an Honours supervisor, she was my first pick. Lucky for me, she was happy to take me on!

My Honours project didn’t have any lab or field work, it was entirely computer based, using bioinformatics to look at genetic data. Now, I know that spending nine months learning to code, analysing huge datasets, and interpreting genomic patterns is far from what most people think of when they think marine biology; but, for me, the coding and data wrangling was actually something that came quite naturally, probably because maths has always been my comfort zone. This project got me hooked on corals, and more specifically, Symbiodiniaceae. These are incredible, single-celled microalgae that grow inside coral cells. They photosynthesise, and give their coral host the energy-rich goodies that they make during photosynthesis. During coral bleaching, corals lose their symbionts, and therefore don’t have enough energy to function and stay alive. So really, without these tiny microalgae we wouldn’t have our beautiful coral reefs that we love to snorkel or dive on.

I came out of my Honours project knowing that I wanted to do more research, and feeling really inspired by this relationship between coral and Symbiodiniaceae. So after a year off doing some casual teaching, and honestly, relaxing, I started a PhD in this area!

A fieldtrip I joined while I was teaching during my year between Honours and PhD, snorkelling on the south coast of NSW

My PhD project is still looking at these coral symbionts, but this time I am definitely spending time in the lab (A LOT of time in the lab). Starting a lab-heavy PhD after having literally zero experience in the lab during my undergrad (thanks COVID!) or Honours was a huge learning curve. I’m really lucky to have had supportive supervisors and other lab members to guide me through my first days (and weeks, and months). My project involves testing to see how Symbiodiniaceae are affected by changing nutrient conditions, and how good they are at taking up nutrients. Hopefully, this will give us a better understanding of how nutrients affect the super important, but super fragile, relationship between corals and their symbionts. My dream is to continue researching these adorable little guys (okay they are just single cells, but I swear they’re cute!), and pass on the things I learn by teaching the next generations of uni students!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/cfed5f_7111c9d744f1432f9c75c9af5afd7e99/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

My super cute, single-celled, Symbiodiniaceae swimming around!