Engineering Biodegradable Plastics for Tomorrow’s Ocean
Register TodayPlastic is critical to the blue economy–industries in and around the ocean. A surprising amount of plastic debris in the open ocean originates from these marine industries. Dr. Santoro will discuss Nereid Biomaterials’ efforts to create self-eating plastics created specifically for marine applications by capitalizing on what we know about naturally-occurring bacteria in the ocean.
Dr. Alyson Santoro, Professor, UCSB Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB)
Dr. Santoro’s research focuses on microbes involved in nutrient cycling in the ocean. Her research combines laboratory experiments with field observations. To date it has used genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and stable isotope geochemistry to uncover the activity of microbes in the ocean. In addition to being a professor in UCSB’s EEMB Department, she is a Principal Investigator at Nereid Biomaterials, a tech transfer project currently supported by the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program.
Dr. Santoro received her B.A. from Dartmouth College in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University in Environmental Engineering. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, she was a faculty member at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science before joining the faculty at UCSB. She is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Early Career Fellowship and a Simons Foundation Early Career Investigator Award in Marine Microbial Ecology.
Location: Our speaker will present in person at Community West Bank conference room at 445 Pine Ave. off Hollister Ave. in Goleta, and on Zoom. When you register, we send a confirmation email containing Zoom data, directions to the in-person location and meal details.
About our Meetings:
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Tech Talks Around Town:
- September 26, 6:30pm, SB Hackerspace: Building Autonomous Systems Using Everyday Items
- September 30, 6pm, Community Environmental Council: Navigating EV Roadblocks
- October 4, 7:30pm, SB Astronomical Unit: The Light Dark Matter Experiment
- October 5, 4pm, UCSB Arts & Lectures: How AI Will Revolutionize Education
- October 7, 7:30pm, SB Museum of Natural History: Early Evidence of Avocado Domestication in the Americas
- October 12, 8pm, SB Museum of Natural History: Star Party
- October 14, 5pm, KITP: Recreational Biology: From Animals in Flatland to Cellular Origami
- October 14, 6:30pm, SB Museum of Natural History: Science Pub: Cool Marine Fishes with Milton Love
- October 22, 7:30pm, UCSB Arts & Lectures: CRISPR Gene Editing and the Future of Human Health
Virtual Attendance: Yes
Location:
Community West Bank Conference Room, and Zoom
445 Pine Avenue
Goleta CA 93117