Ann Tarrant is a Senior Scientist in the Biology Department and Associate Dean of Academic Programs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She completed a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology at the University of Miami (1995) and M.S. (1998) and Ph.D. (2002) degrees in Biological Oceanography at the University of Hawaii. She was awarded a full-tuition Isaac B. Singer scholarship to the University of Miami, as well as DoD NDSEG, NSF GRFP and EPA STAR fellowships. She first came to WHOI in 2002 as a postdoctoral scholar and continued as a postdoctoral fellow sponsored by a National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She was first appointed to the Scientific Staff in the WHOI Biology Department in 2007.
Ann’s lab uses molecular, physiological and behavior approaches to study how invertebrate animals detect and respond to signals and stressors in their environment. She has over 20 years of experience in studying cnidarian physiology, with work both on reef-building corals and sea anemone model organisms. One recent focus has been in understanding how cnidarians use internal circadian clocks and environmental cues to adapt to highly variable marine environments. A second focus has been characterizing cnidarian responses to chemical pollutants and other conditions that create cellular oxidative stress. On this cruise, Ann will collaborate on experiments with live corals to explore variability in ROS production and studying transcriptional signatures associated with ROS production. While she has extensive experience with cnidarian physiology and molecular methods, working with animals from mesophotic and deep-sea environments is a new experience for her, and she appreciates this opportunity to be immersed in the sampling effort and gain invaluable context for the analyses that will build on this work.
Cruises:
