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ERIN BORBEE
Southwestern University
Georgetown, TX 78626
@ErinBorbee
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Work Experience
2025-Present
SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Assistant Professor, Biology Department
2021-2025
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Symbiommunity Lab
Education
EDUCATION
2017-2021
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
PhD Biology & Environmental Sciences
Specialization Evolution & Marine Biology
2013-2017
ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY
B.S. Marine Biology
B.A. Chemistry
Minor Mathematics
Research
RESEARCH
2021-PRESENT
POSTDOCTORAL
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Symbiommunity Lab, Texas State University
Investigation of energetic and immune tradeoffs associated with coral-algal symbiosis in the temperate coral model Astrangia poculata
Evaluation of transcriptomic response of temperate coral larvae to exposure to pathogenic and probiotic bacteria
Understanding implications of heat stress on immunity using the model anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana
2017-2021
GRADUATE
PhD candidate in the Lane Lab at the University of Rhode Island
Dissertation: Biodiversity and biogeography of SAR clade communities in coastal marine ecosystems across Indonesia
UNDERGRADUATE
2016-2017
2014-2017
Research student in the Sharp Lab at Roger Williams University
Senior Thesis: Establishing Astrangia poculata as a model system
Volunteer in the Roger Williams University Wet Lab
Microalgal and copepod culturing
RI NSF EPSCoR Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow
2016
2015
Sharp Lab at RWU: Development of a cell separation method to enable metagenomic analysis of the Astrangia poculata microbiome
Irvine Lab at URI: Proteomics of siphon regeneration in the tunicate Ciona intestinalis
Teaching
TEACHING
2019-2021
BIO223 - Human Anatomy & Physiology II Lab Instructor - URI
Anatomy and physiology of the eye, ear, endocrine, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems. Responsible for teaching background material, assisting students with running the experiments, and writing and grading weekly quizzes, midterm and final lab practicals, and homework assignments.
2018
BIO365 - Biology of Algae Lab Instructor - URI
Biology of Cyanobacteria, red, green, and brown algae. The lab course is centered around a project where students collect seaweed from a local beach, identify it morphologically, followed by extracting DNA, sequencing it, and identifying the species using the sequence. Responsible for teaching material, prepping and running the lab, and grading lab reports and practicals.
2017
BIO244 - Human Physiology Lab Instructor - URI
Physiology of the eye, ear, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems. Responsible for teaching background material, assisting students with running the experiments, and writing and grading weekly quizzes, midterm and final lab practicals, and homework assignments.
2017
RWU Marine Biology Camp Teaching Assistant
One week overnight camp for high school students, where we do hands on lab activities, field trips, and nightly lectures on a variety of marine biology topics.
2023
BIO7102 - Effective Data Visualization in Biology - Texas State
Designed and taught workshop style course in data visualization using R for graduate students. Students spent the first half of the semester working through tutorials on different graph types and the second half of the semester working with their own data to generate figures for their research. The semester ended with presenting the figures to the class to get feedback from the group to improve their figures. Code from the course is available on my GitHub.
2025-Present
BIO50-314 - Genetics - Southwestern
Designed and taught lecture and lab course. Covered transmission, molecular, and population genetics and covered modern applications of genetics as well as technology that has enabled enhancement of genetics study. Lab course focused on research based projects, and developing lab and data analysis skills commonly used in genetics research.
2026-Present
BIO50-304 - Chemical Ecology - Southwestern
Designed and taught lecture and lab course. Lecture portion of course was centered around primary literature and exploring secondary metabolism across the tree of life. The course was project based and designed to have students explore what secondary compounds are produced in nature, what roles they serve in their environment and how they are used in our everyday lives. The lab portion of the course was research based, exposing students to examples of secondary metabolism in nature and what kinds of methods we can use to study these compounds.
Publications
PUBLICATIONS
( * = MENTEE)
APR 2026
Borbee, E., Changsut, I., Bernabe, K., Schickle, A., Sharp, K.S., and Fuess, L.E. (2026) Coral
larvae have unique transcriptomic responses to pathogenic and probiotic
bacteria. Coral Reefs. 45(3)1119-1134
MAY 2025
Warner, J., Besemer R., Schickle, A., Borbee, E., Changsut, I., Sharp, K.S., and Babonis, L.S. (2025). Microinjection, gene knockdown, and CRISPR-mediated knock-in in the
hard coral Astrangia poculata. EvoDevo. 16(1)6.
OCT 2024
Diaz de Villegas, S., Borbee, E.M., Abdelbaki, P., and Fuess, L.E. (2024). Prior heat stress
increases pathogen susceptibility in the model cnidarian Exaiptasia diaphana.
Communications Biology. 7(1)1328.
APR 2024
Borbee, E.M., Ayu, I.P., Restiana, E., Setiawan, F., Subhan, B., Humphries, A.T.,
Madduppa, H., and Lane, C.E. (2024). Surface currents shape protist communities across the Indo-Pacific. Journal of Phycology.
APR 2024
Changsut, I., Borbee, E.M., and Fuess, L.E. (2024) Photosymbiont density is correlated
with constitutive and induced immunity in the facultatively symbiotic
coral Astrangia poculata. Journal of Integrative and Comparative Biology:0:1-13.
FEB 2024
Shen, E.W., Borbee, E.M., Carvalho, P., Setiawan, F., Subhan, B., Madduppa, H.,
Humphries, A.T., and Lane, C.E. (2024) Preliminary characterization of coral reef
diversity using environmental DNA in a hyper-diverse context. Regional Studies
in Marine Science: 71(2024)103432.
NOV 2022
Borbee, E.M., Ayu, I.P., Carvalho, P., Restiana, E., Setiawan, F., Subhan, B., Humphries,
A.T., Madduppa, H., and Lane, C.E. (2022). Rubble fields shape planktonic protist communities on a local scale. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology: e12954.
OCT 2022
Pratomo, A., Bengen, D.G., Zamani, N.P., Lane, C.E., Humphries, A.T., Borbee, E.M.,
Subhan, B., and Madduppa, H. (2022) Diversity and distribution of
Symbiodiniaceae detected on coral reefs of Lombok, Indonesia using
environmental DNA metabarcoding. PeerJ (10) e 14006.
For more info and PDFs of publications see PUBLICATIONS page
Presentations
(PRESENTER UNDERLINED, * = MENTEE)
PRESENTATIONS
INVITED TALKS & WORKSHOPS
SEP 2022
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY SEMINAR SERIES
Coral reef microbes from Rhode Island to Indonesia
Erin Borbee
JUL 2021
PHYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING
An introduction to metabarcoding data analysis using QIIME2
Erin Borbee & Elaine Shen
CONTRIBUTED TALKS
JAN 2023
SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
New insights on immune response of temperate coral larvae to pathogenic and probiotic bacteria
Erin Borbee, Isabella Changsut, Kira Bernabe, Alicia Schickle, David Nelson, Koty Sharp, and Lauren Fuess
AUG 2022
ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING
Utilizing environmental DNA with visual surveys of marine biodiversity in a hyper-diverse, data-poor tropical context
Elaine Shen, Erin Borbee, Paul Carvalho, Fakhrizal Setiawan, Beginer Subhan, Christopher E. Lane, Austin T. Humphries, and Hawis Madduppa
MAR 2022
BENTHIC ECOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Development of the temperate coral, Astrangia poculata, as a model for evolution, ecology, and physiology of symbiosis
Erin Borbee, Alicia Schickle, Isabella Changsut, Natalie Danek, Tommy DeMarco, Trevor Milliken, Leslie Babonis, Sarah Davies, Nicole Fogarty, Caroline Fleming, Lauren Fuess, Justin McAllister, Loretta Roberson, Randi Rotjan, Jennifer Sneed, Isabela Trumble, Jake Warner, Daniel Wuitchik, and Koty Sharp
JUL 2021
PHYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING
Protist community structure across Indonesia and its future implications on MPA design
Erin Borbee, Austin Humphries, Hawis Madduppa, & Christopher Lane
APR 2021
NORTHEAST ALGAL SYMPOSIUM
Abiotic drivers of protist community structure in coastal marine ecosystems across Indonesia
Erin Borbee, Austin Humphries, Hawis Madduppa, & Christopher Lane
JUN 2019
PHYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING
Biogeography of SAR clade communities in relation to Wallace's Line
Erin Borbee, Austin Humphries, Hawis Madduppa, & Christopher Lane
APR 2019
NORTHEAST ALGAL SYMPOSIUM
Biodiversity and biogeography of Dinoflagellate communities in Indonesian marine environments
Erin Borbee, Austin Humphries, Hawis Madduppa, & Christopher Lane
SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
A multi-omics approach investigating regulation of symbiont state in a facultatively symbiotic coral
Erin Borbee, Louis Oviedo, Isabella Changsut, and Lauren Fuess
BENTHIC ECOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Characterizing immunity through larval development in the temperate coral, Astrangia poculata
Isabella Changsut, Erin Borbee, Alicia Schickle, Koty Sharp, and Lauren Fuess
BENTHIC ECOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Insight on regulation of the coral-algal symbiosis using a multi-omics approach
Erin Borbee, Louis Oviedo*, Isabella Changsut, and Lauren Fuess
TEMPERATE CORAL RESEARCH MEETING
Integrative analysis on the nature of the coral-algal symbiosis using the temperate coral, Astrangia poculata
Erin Borbee, Louis Oviedo*, Isabella Changsut, and Lauren Fuess
JAN 2024
APR 2024
APR 2024
MAY 2024
BENTHIC ECOLOGY MEETING
Transcriptomic data reveal immune, energetic tradeoffs associated with coral-algal symbiosis
Erin Borbee, Roh-Allah Jalil*, and Lauren Fuess
APR 2025
SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Investigation of immune, energetic tradeoffs associated with coral-algal symbiosis
Erin Borbee, Roh-Allah Jalil*, and Lauren Fuess
JAN 2025
POSTERS
JAN 2023
SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY ANNUAL MEETING
Investigating immunity post heat stress in the model anemone, Exaiptasia diaphana
Haley Womack*, Erin Borbee, and Lauren Fuess
JAN 2020
RHODE ISLAND MICROBIOME SYMPOSIUM
Protistan ecology of Narragansett Bay benthic habitats
Erin Frates*, Erin Borbee, Alia Al-Haj, Christopher E. Lane, Robinson W. Fulweiler, and Roxanne A. Beinart
APR 2018
NORTHEAST ALGAL SYMPOSIUM
Characterization of SAR clade community composition in Indonesian marine environments
Erin Borbee, Austin Humphries, Hawis Madduppa, & Christopher Lane
JUL 2016
RI SURF CONFERENCE
Approaching a holistic understanding of coral bleaching: Using the coral Astrangia poculata to understand how the coral microbiome is influenced by Symbiodinium
Erin Borbee, Felicia Greco, Tyler Baskin, & Koty Sharp
JUL 2015
RI SURF CONFERENCE
Efforts towards proteomics in Ciona intestinalis
Stephanie Andersen, Erin Borbee, & Steve Irvine
Outreach
OUTREACH
NOV 2021
BURLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL CAREER DAY
Spoke to high school students about career opportunities in marine science and how to find undergraduate research opportunities
SEP 2020
INTERNATIONAL MICROORGANISM DAY
Invited speaker: How to crochet you microbes
DEC 2020
URI SOCIETY FOR WOMEN IN MARINE SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM 2020
We're gonna need a bigger boat: Staying afloat in a sea of opportunities
Head of communications committee and logo design
APR 2019
SMILE 4th GRADE DAY
Worked with 4th grade students to identify local algae species and fill out corresponding algae crossword puzzles
AUG 2018
MYSTIC AQUARIUM WOMEN IN SCIENCE DAY
Set up algae touch table and interacted with aquarium visitors to teach them about local seaweed species
Awards
AWARDS
AUG 2023
NSF POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP IN BIOLOGY - $138,000
Integrative research investigating the rules of life governing the interactions between genomes, environment, and phenotypes
MAR 2022
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - $92,400
Collaborative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
APR 2021
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENT AND LIFE SCIENCES
Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
MAY 2019
PHYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA HOSHAW AWARD - $500
MAY 2019
URI CELS DEAN'S TRAVEL AWARD - $300
Memberships
MEMBERSHIPS
2022 - PRESENT
SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2017 - PRESENT
SOCIETY FOR WOMEN IN MARINE SCIENCE
2019 - PRESENT
PHYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
2018 - PRESENT
NORTHEAST ALGAL SOCIETY
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