Blake Ushijima, Ph.D.
@vibriosoup
Associate Prof at UNCW | Microbiology | Vibrio coralliilyticus enthusiasts | Coral pathogens & probiotics 🪸🦠 | #SCTLD | Comments are my own | Hawaii born | he/him
Work hard, play hard! After a successful #ICRS2026, the Ushijima Lab is taking a little break to explore NZ this week!
That's a wrap for #ICRS2026! The Ushijima Lab was well represented and had a great time sharing our research on coral pathogens and probiotics (& our stickers)! Until next time!
21 July | Rom 504 | 3:15 PM Postdoc Dr. Erin Papke presents "Putative nitrogen cycling ultrastructure, but not viral-like particles indicate SCTLD health states" that is our lab's latest findings on SCTLD using electron microscopy! #ICRS2026
21 July | Room 515 | 10:50 AM PhD student Colleen Shortal presents "Molecular mechanisms controlling Vibrio coralliilyticus resistance to probiotics" summarizing the first resistance genes to probiotics! #ICRS2026
21 July | Room 504 | 10:30 AM Join us for postdoc Dr. Ruiz for "High-Throughput Discovery and Evaluation of Probiotic Bacteria for Mitigating Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in San Andrés, Colombia" outlining our new probiotics that protect against disease!
Meeting Room 518 | Level 5 At 3:20 PM NZST I'll be presenting "Advancing Biotechnologies to Expand the Culturable Diversity of Coral-Associated Microbes for Microbiome-Based Interventions" on how we are developing new growth media for improved culture diversity. #ICRS2026
Meeting Room 515 | Level 5 At 2:55 PM NZST, PhD candidate Liz Weatherup is presenting her talk "Pour Some Sugar on Me: How coral mucus carbohydrate composition impacts Vibrio coralliilyticus virulence" #ICRS2016
The Ushijima Lab is heading to #ICRS2026 in Auckand, NZ! Come see our presentations on coral pathogens & probiotics! Or come chat with us about coral microbes!
Had a great time at #ASMicrobe and looking forward to next year in Chicago! Our lab stickers went fast, but I'll be sure to have a larger stock next time!
Highlights of an epic collaboration between my lab, Blue Indigo Foundation, Ecomares, UM Lowell, Croalina, and PIMS! We're testing new probiotic candidates ex situ if they can protect outplants from #SCTLD and if a promising one can protect corals in situ. The experiemts are currently running...
In just 5 days, we set up a massive experiment with >200 corals to test probiotics against SCTLD! With precise control over light, temp, and purified seawater, we’re ready to create solutions! Amazing teamwork between UNCW, Blue Indigo Foundation, Ecomares, UM Lowell, Croalina, and PIMS!
Yesterday was an event! Thanks to the tremendous help from the Blue Indigo and Ecomares personnel! We got a massive experiment set up with ~200 coral outplants and probiotic treatments set up in a single day!
My PhD student Erin Papke also trained our collaborators from The Perry Institute of Marine Science, Ecomares, and The Blue Indigo Foundation on making deployment bags for in situ coral probiotic treatments at San Andrés Island, Columbia. She'll be training them in the field next!
The past two days my PhD student Erin Papke and postdoc Jordan Ruiz have been working with the Blue Indigo Foundation and Ecomares to set up a coral testing AND microbiology lab on San Andrés Island for our mission of developing probiotics against SCTLD and help others to do the same!
It's been 10 years, but we're finally getting back into phages. Glorious enrichment assays from mud samples.
Bleaching and tissue loss coral diseases get all the attention, but there's also growth anomalies. We don't know for sure what causes them. However, our lab is going to be looking at these Acropora growth anomalies (the growths in the middle of the branches) under TEM!
A 9-armmed sea star (Luidia senegalensis) from Florida. Don't worry, "Stuart" is alive and well. We just needed some baseline samples from healthy specimens 🤩
Corals, tunicates, and sea stars oh my! 🧪🔬🧫🌊 UNCW Ph.D. students Erin Papke, Grace Kennedy, and Kiah Gongaware were down at the Smithsonian Marine Station (some for a month!) working on various projects ranging from nitrogen cycling in corals, identifying new sea squirts, and sea star microbiomes!
Being able to get some good mandu-guk makes the long travel to the West Coast worth it...and a great conference. But, yeah know, food is important.
#ASMicrobe 2025 just ended, but session proposals are opening up on June 24th for 2026 in D.C.! Help shape next year's meeting by proposing the science you want to see!
The neurotic guy in the Hawaiian shirt & clipboard running around #ASMicrobe is stepping down. After ~5 years on the #AES track planning committee, w/ last few as Track lead, it's time for a break. Thanks to tireless work from the committee members and admin that put on this meeting every year!
That's a wrap for #ASMicrobe 2025! Thank you to all the speakers as well as the movers and shakers that make this conference happen! #AES will see you next year with a new look and a new name!
For our last #AES Session, join us at 8:15 AM in 403B for AES-IDS-501 Microbiology of Mineral and Energy Resource Recovery. #ASMicrobe
Nothing is forever! Especially when it comes to the power of microbes! Come and learn more about this #AES session at 1:45 PM in 403B for AES-IDS-406 Discovery of "forever chemical"-degrading microorganisms. Are microbes our only hope for cleaning up our messes? Find out here! #ASMicrobe
Last but not least, our final #AES Track Talk is today at 12:45! Come down to our Tack Hub for Dr. Skylar Carlson and her talk AES-TT-405 Algae Surface Associated Microbes & the language of location! Come learn about environmental microbes and their chemical signals! #ASMicrobe
Join #AES at 11:45 AM in our Track Hub for our last rapid fire session AES-RF-404 Microbial Pioneers: Colonizing Earth's Unique Habitats! Learn about microbes living in diverse environments. From freshwater streams to permafrost, microbes are everywhere! #ASMicrobe
AI can be a useful tool for tracking diseases and wastewater management! Join #AES at out track hub Sunday at 10:45 AM for AES-TT-402 AI and Wastewater: Technologies, Community Disease Monitoring, and Future outlook by Dr. Stephanie Bachas-Daunert. #ASMicrobe
My colleague @lebetimonas.bsky.social is presenting her work on culturing anaerobes from #SCTLD lesions during the #AES session AES-IDS-401 Anaerobes: new isolates and pathways! Learn about coral disease research during her talk during the session today at 8:15 in 403B. #ASMicrobe