Faculty Bio

Andrea Suria

Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Education

• B.S., Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Ph.D., University of Connecticut

About

Andrea Suria’s research examines how beneficial bacterial symbionts protect their host animals from infection. She uses the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, and its symbiotic egg bacteria as a model to study host defense in symbioses. The Suria lab uses genetic mutations, in vitro bioassays, and bioinformatic tools to explore the mechanisms of bacterial competition and antimicrobial production. The lab is also interested in characterizing defensive symbioses in the eggs of other aquatic invertebrates, such as crabs and shrimp. Suria teaches courses in microbiology and molecular genetics and is a partner instructor in the Tiny Earth Network, a global consortium seeking to discover new antibiotics.

For more information about Andre Suria, view her Curriculum Vitae.

Areas of Interest/Expertise

• Marine microbiology

• Beneficial symbioses

• Molecular Biology

• Microbial genetics

Selected Publications

• Suria, A.M., S. Smith, L. Speare, Y. Chen^†, I. Chien†, E.G. Clark^†, M. Kruger^†, A.M. Warwick^†, H. Wilkins^†, A.N. Septer. (2022). Prevalence of Type VI Secretion Systems in a Model Beneficial Symbiosis. Frontiers in Microbiology, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.9889044

• McAnulty, S.J.*, A.H. Kerwin*, E. Koch, B. Nuttall, A.M. Suria, A.J. Collins, T.R. Schleicher, B.A. Rader, S.V. Nyholm. (2022). “Failure to Launch”: Development of a reproductive organ linked to symbiotic bacteria. mBio, doi: 10.1128/mbio.02131-22

• Suria, A.M.*, K. Tan*, A.H. Kerwin, L. Gitzel, L. Abini-Agbomson^†, J. Bertenshaw^†, J. Sewell^†, M.J. Balunas, and S.V. Nyholm. (2020). Hawaiian bobtail squid symbionts inhibit marine bacteria via production of specialized metabolites, including new bromoalterochromides BAC-D/D';. mSphere, 5:e00166-20. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00166-20

• Kerwin, A.H.*, S. Gromek*, A.M. Suria, R.M. Samples, D.J. Deoss^†, K. O’Donnell, S. Frasca Jr., D.A. Sutton, N.P. Wiederhold, M.J., Balunas, and S.V. Nyholm. (2019). Shielding the next generation: symbiotic bacteria from a reproductive organ protect bobtail squid eggs from fungal fouling. mBio, 10(5): e02376-19. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02376-19.

• Belcaid, M., G. Casaburi, S.J. McAnulty, H. Schmidbaur, A.M. Suria, S. Moriano-Gutierrez, M.S. Pankey, T.H. Oakley, N. Kremer, E.J. Koch, A.J. Collins, H. Nguyen, S. Lek, I. Goncharenko-Foster, P. Minx, E. Sodergren, G. Weinstock, D.S. Rokhsar, M. McFall-Ngai, O. Simakov, J.S. Foster, and S.V. Nyholm. (2019). Symbiotic organs shaped by distinct modes of genome evolution in cephalopods. PNAS, 116(8): 3030-3035, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1817322116

• Leonida, M.D., S. Belbekhouche, A. Benzecry, M. Peddineni, A.M. Suria, B. Carbonnier (2018). Antibacterial hop extracts encapsulated in nanochitosan matrices. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 120(A): 1335-1343. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.09.003

• Gromek, S.M.*, A.M. Suria*, M.S. Fullmer, J.L. Garcia, J.P. Gogarten, S.V. Nyholm, M.J. Balunas. (2016). Leisingera sp. JC1, a bacterial isolate from Hawaiian bobtail squid eggs, produces indigoidine and differentially inhibits vibrios. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01342

  *Co-first authors
  ^†Mentored undergraduate student