Nicole Capozzi

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the intersection between the marine and biomedical sciences. I first became interested in marine genomics through the Gloucester Biotechnology Academy summer STEM program, an interest that I pursued further at Smith College. My interest in the biomedical sciences formed while taking a leave of absence from my academic studies to work as a Lab Technician in the Boston University Clinical Testing Lab, where we were testing for the presence or absence of SARS-CoV2. After returning to Smith, I worked in a lab researching the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana—an important model species for coral—and conducted experiments looking at the response of the sea anemones to both cold and heat stress. My first experience with cell culture came when I was abroad for a semester in Florence, Italy, where I was able to work in a research lab at the University of Florence (Università degli Studi di Firenze) culturing T-cells in preparation for a clinical trial for a melanoma treatment. Upon returning to Smith after my semester abroad, I completed a senior honors thesis using metatranscriptomics and metabarcoding as techniques to determine which microbial eukaryotes were present in marine water samples taken off the coast of Long Island.

As a member of the sea urchin team, my work currently focuses on helping to develop marine cell culture tools using sea urchins and applying those tools to study sea urchins as models for cancer and aging research.

Research Profile Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-capozzi