Luke McCartin is a Ph.D. Candidate at Lehigh University in Dr. Santiago Herrera’s lab. Luke grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and has spent his life pursuing a deeper knowledge of the ocean. He has a passion for understanding how the marine life in different parts of the oceans differs and how the distribution of life changes naturally over time and in response to humans. Luke specifically studies environmental DNA or eDNA for short. eDNA is the DNA that all marine animals shed into the seawater around them. In his Ph.D. research, Luke is developing methods to sequence and identify eDNA from deep-sea coral species to map their distribution. On this cruise, he will collect water samples for eDNA sequencing and assist with animal collections and measurements.
Cruises:
