Researchers at Wilmington University are working to find ways to make sea coral more robust to combat the impact of climate change.

Samantha Kidwell, an undergrad majoring in Biology, was named a student facilitator trainee in the project by the CAREERS Cyberteam Program at The Yale Center for Research Computing. She is working under the direction of Dr. Milton Muldrow, chair of Environmental Science and Biology in the College of Health Professions and Natural Sciences. A National Science Foundation Award supports their participation.

Dr. Muldrow says Kidwell is a gifted and focused scholar already receiving a NASA Space Grant award. “She is a dedicated student, always talking to people about her work. We are excited to see where she will wind up,” he says.

She and Dr. Muldrow are part of a multi-university team that will study aiptasia, a form of sea anemone, looking for target proteins and signaling genes known as sirtuins (SIRTs) to identify insights into keeping coral healthy. Coral reefs, which form one of the world’s most important ecosystems, are rapidly declining due to warming oceans.