Tanya’s primary research interest is in how the coral immune system responds to microbial symbionts, both mutualistic and pathogenic. A major problem facing corals is disease and very little is known about how corals respond to this stress. She is currently looking at the molecular mechanisms involved in the immune response of the scleractinian, Acropora millepora, and sea anemones.
Tanya has an M.Sc degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her masters thesis work involved differential gene expression work on anthox (a HOX like gene found in cnidarians) as well as an ammonium transport gene in the gorgonian, Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae.