Geoff Dilly
My interests lie in better understanding interactions between microbes and metazoans, more specifically symbioses. In the Girguis Lab, my research will focus on symbiont acquisition and recognition within Codakia orbicularis. C. orbicularis is a bivalve found in shallow-water seagrass beds from Florida to Brazil which acquires environmentally-transmitted bacteria (sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophs) in its larval stage. I propose to identify the site(s) of symbiont recognition in C. orbicularis and characterize both host and symbiont surface proteins that are likely involved in recognition and acquisition.
