{"id":116,"date":"2021-03-15T07:37:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T06:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogg.lnu.se\/mpea\/?p=116"},"modified":"2021-03-15T07:38:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T06:38:47","slug":"meet-the-researcher-christien-laber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogg.lnu.se\/mpea\/blog\/outreach-and-sustainability\/meet-the-researcher-christien-laber\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Researcher: Christien Laber"},"content":{"rendered":"

The MPEA research group is an international group of researchers with diverse research backgrounds, talents and interests. We welcome Christien into our group in 2020 as a lab technician, and he is now joining us as a post-doc in April, 2021. Christien’s background both as a scientist and a musician makes him uniquely situated to communicate our marine phytoplankton research to the world in a way that people and children understand. He has been essential to our AlgoKidz<\/a> project, and continues to contribute to our work in outreach, research and beyond.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

His blog, Music of Science,<\/a> is dedicated to research communication through music.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"An interview with Christien Laber:<\/h3>\n

What is your background as a marine biologist? (your PhD dissertation, where you got your start?)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been studying phytoplankton for my entire career as a marine biologist but I have had varied interests since I first started working with them during my undergraduate studies.\u00a0 My first experience was working with a couple harmful algae bloom (HAB) forming species in the coastal oceans of the United States.\u00a0 The first was Karlodinium veneficum<\/em> which is responsible for extensive fish kills that occur in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.\u00a0 I was studying how these algae modulate their toxin production when grown in varying light conditions to help explain the variability of their toxicity in the environment.\u00a0 The other HAB I studied was Karenia brevis<\/em> which is responsible for the infamous Florida red tide that closes beaches and cause respiratory and eye irritation.\u00a0 I worked on a project developing the discriminatory power of robots that optically detect special algal pigments used identify K. brevis<\/em> among natural phytoplankton communities in the Gulf of Mexico and warn scientists of upcoming blooms.<\/p>\n

For my PhD, I focused on an algae species many of us call the \u2018rock star\u2019 of the ocean, Emiliania huxleyi<\/em>.\u00a0 The nickname comes from the ornate calcium carbonate plates that cover the cell called coccoliths.\u00a0 These liths are constantly produced and shed from cells and produce a beautiful chalky turquoise color in the water when the algae are blooming.\u00a0 The color is so distinct, that these blooms are easily observed from space and satellite images regularly show these swirling blooms extend for thousands of square kilometers.\u00a0 I was studying how these blooms can become infected by a virus specific to E. huxleyi<\/em>, and what happens to the carbon that composes the billions of cells in these blooms when they lyse, and die during advanced infection events.\u00a0 The research that came out of my PhD provided some of the first evidence that algal viruses can increase the efficiency of carbon export out of the surface ocean and into the deep ocean.\u00a0 We suggested this process is stimulated by sticky polysaccharides produced by the cells as a byproduct of viral infection that stimulates the formation of quickly sinking aggregates of dead\/dying cells and their coccoliths.\u00a0 And it\u2019s been quite exciting to see other studies corroborate our evidence that viruses can stimulate flux as well, as its quite opposite of the suggested paradigm just a decade ago.<\/p>\n

How does working in the States or other countries differ to working in Sweden?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So far, the things that stick out to me the most are the very international nature of our community and just how much vacation we get here!\u00a0 I think the emphasis on having a good work-life balance is very welcoming, and it\u2019s good to have reminders now and then that Swedes take this seriously. \u00a0\u00a0In the US, I think many people are limited to getting 2 weeks paid vacation per year or less, which is quite unfortunate.<\/p>\n

Here in Sweden, I have also really enjoyed getting to meet and work with so many people from so many different parts of the world!\u00a0 Working in the US, most of my colleagues were also Americans.\u00a0 Lovely as we Americans can be, I have been able to learn so much about working as a global citizen with colleagues who are largely also internationals.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You\u2019re a great singer-songwriter! How did you develop your science communication music, how long have you been doing it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess the idea of writing music about science, and oceanography in particular, first started coming to me late in my PhD when I was listening to a lot of Stan Rogers.\u00a0 He wrote some beautiful folk ballads about maritime travel, work, and lifestyle with exquisitely crafted lyrics that really pull you into the music.\u00a0 And so, as a musician, I started wondering if I could do something similar but describe the experience of doing science at sea instead.\u00a0 My first song was \u2018The Pursuit of Knowledge\u2019 which I wrote about the North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) that I had recently participated in and served as a test of the concept.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know if the science would make a particularly compelling story or not, but when I was done I was quite happy with the end result.\u00a0 And I guess some others who were part of the NAAMES project also quite liked it, and so I threw together an accompanying video so that we could publish it for the public to see.\u00a0 The really fun part was that NASA (who funded the NAAMES study) caught on and decided to publish the music video on their social media platforms.\u00a0 So I very quickly got to see the music become an effective communication platform, and with some positive feedback decided to write a few more songs so far.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Word on the street is that you\u2019re headed up to the Arctic this summer for a 3(2) month long research excursion. Tell us more!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019m very excited about this.\u00a0 I will be going to the Arctic with several other members of our team to investigate picophytoplankton, the smallest photosynthesizing organisms on the planet, and their contribution to sustaining the marine ecosystem in the Arctic.\u00a0 We are conducting this study as part of the Synoptic Arctic Survey, an international study that will be making a comprehensive investigation of the current state of the Arctic ecosystem from 2020-2022 and assess how it is changing.\u00a0 Picophytoplankton make up an important fraction of the primary production that supports the arctic food web, but their distribution and diversity are still poorly characterized.\u00a0 As a rapidly warming and changing system, we also need to understand how the assemblage of picophytoplankton will change over the next century and impact ecosystem dynamics.\u00a0 So the sampling and experiments we will be conducting will try to provide some answers to these questions, as well as a good foundation for research going forward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are you most excited about for this excursion? Any nerves?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well I suppose one can only hope to see a polar bear or two, but not get too close of course!\u00a0 Yes, I think I\u2019m most excited to just absorb the remoteness of the area and the beauty of the sea ice and whatever little (or big) creatures are hanging out in the area as we travel through.<\/p>\n

We will also be on the icebreaker research vessel Oden for the expedition, which may take us near the North Pole by cutting through sea ice.\u00a0 This will also be exciting, and I do have faith in the ship\u2019s design, but it will perhaps also be a bit intimidating to have tons of sea ice pressing against the ship\u2019s hull as we cruise along!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We\u2019re really happy to have you onboard. ? Welcome! (a bit belated!)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Thank you very much! Tack s\u00e5 mycket!<\/p>\n

    -Caroline Littlefield & Christien Laber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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