University of Findlay, Ohio Zoanthid Research Project: WE NEED YOUR HELP! - Page 3

gordonj1 · 11/04/2012, 08:59 AM

RESEARCH UPDATE:

On Monday, we ran a DNA extraction which took us over 8 hours of work in the lab to get it just right. Those zoanthids are tough!

We froze the DNA of our "test run" zoanthids and continued with a gel electrophoresis on Tuesday afternoon. This separates the DNA based on base pair size.

Wednesday we presented a picture of our gel to our research advisor Dr.Wooten, and she said it was one of the best DNA extraditing she has seen in a long time!

We were so excited to hear this!

Over Thanksgiving break, we will be planning a trip to Tidal Gardens in Copley, Ohio about 45 minutes from my house. We hope to come back with many new zoas and palys for testing.

Thank you everyone!

gordonj1 · 11/07/2012, 07:42 PM

Sunday we fragged 6 more zoas and preserved them.

On Monday, we extracted the new zoanthid DNA.

We are now up to 8 total samples. We need to get to 25 or more to publish. If anyone is interested in helping us out please let me know. You will be formally thanked in our published results.

We all have tests this week (I'm on a biochem studying break lol), so we decided to plan our PCR for Friday afternoon. I will post more pictures soon.

gordonj1 · 11/10/2012, 10:10 AM

Bad phone picture of the gel, but you get the idea.
We just proved that whammin' watermelons and eagle eyes are the same thing =]

gordonj1 · 11/28/2012, 09:18 PM

Over Thanksgiving break, Court and I went to Tidal Gardens.

He was able to give us many many new zoanthids for little or no charge. He is just AWESOME!!!

We have 40 or so types now!

We still need contributions though. We will be doing more research on Friday for sure. I signed up to take 4 credit hours of research at UF, so I will be working in the labs 12hrs + a week.

Like my coral skeleton frag rack?

dendronepthya · 11/29/2012, 10:47 AM

Hi Jessica and Courtney, it's Than. Best of luck in your project! It's great that you have taken the initiative to do a project like this. Keep us posted on the results.

gordonj1 · 11/29/2012, 11:35 AM

Thank you so much Than!!! Your contribution to our research means so much to us. We hope to see you again soon. We love your greenhouse!

arbee · 11/30/2012, 09:00 PM

Jessica and Courtney-If you are near Massillon this month (Christmas break) let me know and I can donate some zoas. Thanks-- and good luck on the project. Sounds so interesting!

gordonj1 · 11/30/2012, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arbee

Jessica and Courtney-If you are near Massillon this month (Christmas break) let me know and I can donate some zoas. Thanks-- and good luck on the project. Sounds so interesting!

WOW awesome! Thank you so much! I (Jess) will be home for Winter break from the 15th of December to the first or second week in January. Court will be with me for a few days prior to flying home.

I'm going to need to set up another tank after all this is said and done =]
*YES!*

gordonj1 · 12/04/2012, 02:49 PM

We are all working so hard to study for finals this week! Work keeps piling on, but luckily we have an awesome tank to sit and relax in front of after a long day of studying.

I want to personally thank every single person who has helped us through these first couple of steps in our research! I don't know where we would be without you!

I used to think that the reefing community was full of greedy people just looking to make a buck. Now I know that this couldn't be further from the truth. So many people have reached out and gave their support for us and our research project.

Thank you all!

gordonj1 · 12/04/2012, 03:03 PM

some photos

Bill Zoanthids we named

Our New Starfish

^^ these are one of my favorites in my tank

gordonj1 · 01/28/2013, 08:03 PM

I have been meaning to post! I havent forgotten about this thread!

We have been workin like crazy in the lab lately. We extracted and ran PCR all last week. Hopefully by the end of the week we will send some samples out to get sequenced. I will keep everyone updated. The tank sure has changed an grown lately. I web from 2 red hornet polyps to 5 now. We also now have 3 Rastas. I am so afraid to frag them and extract their DNA!!!

We grafted nucs and deaths to make two faces. We will see how that goes. Wish us luck!

Matt1351 · 01/28/2013, 10:13 PM

Post some pictures of the progress.

gordonj1 · 01/28/2013, 11:10 PM

I will be able to post some tomorrow for sure. Using my iPod right now lol

gordonj1 · 01/28/2013, 11:13 PM

So over the last two weeks my dual t5 had a ballast blow so I borrowed a pc from a friend then I decided to buy a new quad t5 fixture off eBay. The ballast will be here tomorrow and the quad will be here Wednesday. I will post pics

gordonj1 · 02/02/2013, 01:04 PM

update time!!!
we have had some crazy stuff going on lately

pseb04529e.jpg[/IMG]

we get bored in the lab. sorry these uploaded all out of order

gordonj1 · 02/02/2013, 01:06 PM

this is rob and big =]

gordonj1 · 02/02/2013, 01:08 PM

gordonj1 · 02/02/2013, 01:11 PM

theres another polyp hidden under the big one

look at one of my first posts and you can see how much this colony has grown =]

gordonj1 · 02/12/2013, 01:11 PM

We sent samples to chicago for sequencing on Thursday. Soon we will have a phylogenetic tree constructed

gordonj1 · 03/06/2013, 10:16 AM

We are on Spring break now! We went to Tidal Gardens yesterday and got a couple more zoas for our research project!

gordonj1 · 01/19/2014, 07:29 PM

Hi everyone! Welcome back! We have been working hard on our project and have come a long way. Our research as well as our understanding has come a long way. We are looking into graduate school as we begin to finish up our senior year at Findlay.
Here's our most recent research poster

kool stuff eh?

Any questions? Post em! We will be happy to answer any. FYI, this has been published... so don't try to steal it. It is property of our University... be careful!

We are still looking for more zoanthids. If you have a couple zoas you would like to donate to our cause, let us know through message or post. We are happy to pay for samples, or shipping. Send us your zoas, and we will sequence them!

puffster · 01/19/2014, 08:17 PM

PM sent, Good luck! Is this a continuance of the latest zoanthid DNA program? I hope so, no need to start at the bottom every year. Keep us up to date. From my reading and research, DNA sequencing is turning Marine Taxonomy on its head. If this is true, how does this affect this discipline of science?

gordonj1 · 01/22/2014, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by puffster

PM sent, Good luck! Is this a continuance of the latest zoanthid DNA program? I hope so, no need to start at the bottom every year. Keep us up to date. From my reading and research, DNA sequencing is turning Marine Taxonomy on its head. If this is true, how does this affect this discipline of science?

Yes this is a continuation of this research. We are actually going to continue researching zoanthid phylogeny through graduate school as well if all goes as planned.

DNA bar-coding is doing wonders for taxonomy. The issue is that years ago, researchers were going nuts describing species of zoanthids and competing to name new species in a race to get all of them and get the most. This lead to many species being called different names, and the only specimens to prove that these zoas they described even existed are in museums preserved in formaldehyde which destroys DNA. So they only way to identify the zoa is to dissect it. Which as you can imagine, is difficult.

before genetic analysis, morphological information was used to determine species of zoa.

check out this video Than made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpkHK1KffXY

gordonj1 · 05/04/2014, 11:14 PM

UPDATE:

We have completed our second year of research on this topic, and graduated from Findlay yesterday!

The next chapter in out lives is to continue our research in graduate school at the University of The Ryukyus in Okinawa Japan! We are very excited for this opportunity, because we will be studying with the leading researcher in zoanthid phylogeny, Dr. Reimer. If it wasn't for RC we may have never met him.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to our research and I will continue to update everyone along the way. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We are still accepting donations.

I am still in shock and can't believe we get to travel halfway across the world and study what we love. It is truly amazing.

Have a great night everyone!

hustla22 · 05/05/2014, 09:25 AM

That's awesome, and congrats!

11/10/2012, 10:10 AM	#53
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	Bad phone picture of the gel, but you get the idea. We just proved that whammin' watermelons and eagle eyes are the same thing =] Last edited by gordonj1; 11/10/2012 at 10:12 AM. Reason: typo

11/29/2012, 10:47 AM	#55
dendronepthya Premium Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Akron, OH, USA Posts: 3,762	Hi Jessica and Courtney, it's Than. Best of luck in your project! It's great that you have taken the initiative to do a project like this. Keep us posted on the results. __________________ - Than (dendro) Current Tank Info: 5000-gallon greenhouse system

11/30/2012, 09:00 PM	#57
arbee Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Massillon, Ohio Posts: 439	Jessica and Courtney-If you are near Massillon this month (Christmas break) let me know and I can donate some zoas. Thanks-- and good luck on the project. Sounds so interesting! __________________ 125 mixed reef/55sump-fuge/ Current Tank Info: 125 Reef/55 Sump 72" Aquactinics Constellation T5 fixture 55 sump ER RS250 skimmer

11/04/2012, 08:59 AM	#51
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	RESEARCH UPDATE: On Monday, we ran a DNA extraction which took us over 8 hours of work in the lab to get it just right. Those zoanthids are tough! We froze the DNA of our "test run" zoanthids and continued with a gel electrophoresis on Tuesday afternoon. This separates the DNA based on base pair size. Wednesday we presented a picture of our gel to our research advisor Dr.Wooten, and she said it was one of the best DNA extraditing she has seen in a long time! We were so excited to hear this! Over Thanksgiving break, we will be planning a trip to Tidal Gardens in Copley, Ohio about 45 minutes from my house. We hope to come back with many new zoas and palys for testing. Thank you everyone!

11/07/2012, 07:42 PM	#52
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	Sunday we fragged 6 more zoas and preserved them. On Monday, we extracted the new zoanthid DNA. We are now up to 8 total samples. We need to get to 25 or more to publish. If anyone is interested in helping us out please let me know. You will be formally thanked in our published results. We all have tests this week (I'm on a biochem studying break lol), so we decided to plan our PCR for Friday afternoon. I will post more pictures soon.

11/28/2012, 09:18 PM	#54
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	Over Thanksgiving break, Court and I went to Tidal Gardens. He was able to give us many many new zoanthids for little or no charge. He is just AWESOME!!! We have 40 or so types now! We still need contributions though. We will be doing more research on Friday for sure. I signed up to take 4 credit hours of research at UF, so I will be working in the labs 12hrs + a week. Like my coral skeleton frag rack?

11/29/2012, 11:35 AM	#56
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	Thank you so much Than!!! Your contribution to our research means so much to us. We hope to see you again soon. We love your greenhouse!

12/04/2012, 02:49 PM	#59
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	We are all working so hard to study for finals this week! Work keeps piling on, but luckily we have an awesome tank to sit and relax in front of after a long day of studying. I want to personally thank every single person who has helped us through these first couple of steps in our research! I don't know where we would be without you! I used to think that the reefing community was full of greedy people just looking to make a buck. Now I know that this couldn't be further from the truth. So many people have reached out and gave their support for us and our research project. Thank you all!

12/04/2012, 03:03 PM	#60
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	some photos Bill Zoanthids we named Our New Starfish ^^ these are one of my favorites in my tank

01/28/2013, 08:03 PM	#61
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	I have been meaning to post! I havent forgotten about this thread! We have been workin like crazy in the lab lately. We extracted and ran PCR all last week. Hopefully by the end of the week we will send some samples out to get sequenced. I will keep everyone updated. The tank sure has changed an grown lately. I web from 2 red hornet polyps to 5 now. We also now have 3 Rastas. I am so afraid to frag them and extract their DNA!!! We grafted nucs and deaths to make two faces. We will see how that goes. Wish us luck!

01/28/2013, 10:13 PM	#62
Matt1351 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Lakewood Posts: 1,147	Post some pictures of the progress.

01/28/2013, 11:10 PM	#63
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	I will be able to post some tomorrow for sure. Using my iPod right now lol

01/28/2013, 11:13 PM	#64
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	So over the last two weeks my dual t5 had a ballast blow so I borrowed a pc from a friend then I decided to buy a new quad t5 fixture off eBay. The ballast will be here tomorrow and the quad will be here Wednesday. I will post pics

02/02/2013, 01:04 PM	#65
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	update time!!! we have had some crazy stuff going on lately pseb04529e.jpg[/IMG] we get bored in the lab. sorry these uploaded all out of order

02/02/2013, 01:06 PM	#66
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	this is rob and big =]

02/02/2013, 01:08 PM	#67
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340

02/02/2013, 01:11 PM	#68
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	theres another polyp hidden under the big one look at one of my first posts and you can see how much this colony has grown =]

02/12/2013, 01:11 PM	#69
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	We sent samples to chicago for sequencing on Thursday. Soon we will have a phylogenetic tree constructed

03/06/2013, 10:16 AM	#70
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	We are on Spring break now! We went to Tidal Gardens yesterday and got a couple more zoas for our research project!

01/19/2014, 07:29 PM	#71
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	Hi everyone! Welcome back! We have been working hard on our project and have come a long way. Our research as well as our understanding has come a long way. We are looking into graduate school as we begin to finish up our senior year at Findlay. Here's our most recent research poster kool stuff eh? Any questions? Post em! We will be happy to answer any. FYI, this has been published... so don't try to steal it. It is property of our University... be careful! We are still looking for more zoanthids. If you have a couple zoas you would like to donate to our cause, let us know through message or post. We are happy to pay for samples, or shipping. Send us your zoas, and we will sequence them!

01/19/2014, 08:17 PM	#72
puffster Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Ravenna, oh Posts: 946	PM sent, Good luck! Is this a continuance of the latest zoanthid DNA program? I hope so, no need to start at the bottom every year. Keep us up to date. From my reading and research, DNA sequencing is turning Marine Taxonomy on its head. If this is true, how does this affect this discipline of science?

05/04/2014, 11:14 PM	#74
gordonj1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 340	UPDATE: We have completed our second year of research on this topic, and graduated from Findlay yesterday! The next chapter in out lives is to continue our research in graduate school at the University of The Ryukyus in Okinawa Japan! We are very excited for this opportunity, because we will be studying with the leading researcher in zoanthid phylogeny, Dr. Reimer. If it wasn't for RC we may have never met him. I want to thank everyone who contributed to our research and I will continue to update everyone along the way. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We are still accepting donations. I am still in shock and can't believe we get to travel halfway across the world and study what we love. It is truly amazing. Have a great night everyone!

05/05/2014, 09:25 AM	#75
hustla22 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 433	That's awesome, and congrats!