Rebecca Vega Thurber (born December 30, 1975) is an American microbial ecologist and

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

scientist. She is the Pernot distinguished chair of

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

since 2020. She is a team leader of the Tara Pacific expedition and co-producer of the coral reef documentary ''Saving Atlantis''.

Scientific career

Vega Thurber was awarded a

US National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is t ...

Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue postdoctoral research at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

under the supervision of

Forest Rohwer Forest Rohwer (born 1969) is an American microbial ecologist and Professor of Biology at San Diego State University. His particular interests include coral reef microbial ecology and viruses as both evolutionary agents and opportunistic pathoge ...

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

virology Virology is the Scientific method, scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host (biology), ...

and

. Her first faculty appointment was as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

. She subsequently moved to Oregon State also as an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, where is an associate professor holding the Pernot distinguished chair.

Research

Vega Thurber started her research career as a

developmental biologist Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

studying apoptosis in early

embryogenesis An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male ...

in the model

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

organism, the sea urchin

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus ''Strongylocentrotus purpuratus'' is a species of sea urchin in the family Strongylocentrotidae commonly known as the purple sea urchin. It lives along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean extending from Ensenada, Mexico, to British Columbi ...

. It was during her postdoctoral years, when she switched her focus to coral reef science and coral viruses and bacteria in particular. She uncovered that corals contain unique assemblages of viruses that are involved mediating coral reef health. In those early years, Vega Thurber adopted the use

genomic Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, ...

and

bioinformatic Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divi ...

approaches to her research enabling

metagenome Metagenomics is the study of all genetic material from all organisms in a particular environment, providing insights into their composition, diversity, and functional potential. Metagenomics has allowed researchers to profile the microbial co ...

and

microbiome A microbiome () is the community of microorganisms that can usually be found living together in any given habitat. It was defined more precisely in 1988 by Whipps ''et al.'' as "a characteristic microbial community occupying a reasonably wel ...

-based inferences. As a faculty member she expanded collaborations with marine ecologists, Deron Burkepile, Erinn Muller among others. Those collaborations led to the discovery of major roles microbial assemblages play in coral reef environments. Her standing as a world expert in coral microbiology led her to be appointed as one of the lead scientists of the Tara Pacific Expedition. Vega Thurber is a member of the NSF Long Term Ecological Research Network in Moorea, Tahiti.

Mentorship

Vega Thurber has mentored ten Ph.D. students and eight postdocs. She has mentored dozens of undergraduate students in marine microbiology.

Awards and professional service

*1999: Alfred P. Sloan Graduate student Fellow. *2001: California Sea Grant Graduate Student Fellow. *2003: EPA NCER STAR Graduate Student Fellow. *2006: U.S. National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Fellow. *2014: Oregon State University's Faculty of the Game Award. *2016. Oregon State University Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship. *2020: Oregon State University Pernot Distinguished Chair in Microbiology.

Selected publications

*Vega Thurber R, Mydlarz L, Brandt M, Harvell D, Weil E, Raymundo L, Willis BL, Langevin S, Tracy AM, Littman R, Kemp KM, Garren M, Lamb J. (2020) Deciphering coral disease dynamics: Integrating host, microbiome, and the changing environment. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.575927 *Vega Thurber R, Payet JP, Thurber AR, Correa AMS. (2017) Virus-host interactions and their roles in coral reef health and disease. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 15: 205-216 doi:10.1038/nrmicro.2016.176 *Zaneveld JR, McMinds R, Vega Thurber R. Stress and Stability: Applying the Anna Karenina principle (AKP) to animal microbiomes. (2017) Nature Microbiology 2: 17121 doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.121 *Zaneveld JR, Burkepile DE, Shantz AA, Pritchard CE, McMinds R£, Payet JP, Welsh RM£, Correa AMS, Lemoine, NP, Rosales SM£, Fuchs C, Maynard JA, Vega Thurber R. (2016) Overfishing and

nutrient pollution Nutrient pollution is a form of water pollution caused by too many Nutrient, nutrients entering the water. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters (lakes, rivers and Coast, coastal waters), in which excess nutrients, usually ni ...

interact with temperature to disrupt coral reefs down to microbial scales. Nature Communications 7:11833 doi: 10.1038/ncomms11833. *Vega Thurber R, Burkepile DE, Shantz AA£, Fuchs C, Zaneveld JR, McMinds R. (2014). Chronic nutrient enrichment increases prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching. Global Change Biology 20: 544–554 doi: 10.1111/gcb.12450

References

External links

*https://science.oregonstate.edu/directory/rebecca-l-vega-thurber *https://vegathurberlab.wixsite.com/microbiology * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vega Thurber, Rebecca Living people American women marine biologists American marine biologists University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Stanford University alumni Oregon State University faculty Microbiologists 1975 births