People

Catalina was born and grew up in Cali, Colombia. She completed her BSc in Biology at University of los Andes and did her research on Caribbean octocoral systematics. Shortly after, she did some internship at research stations in South America and in 2008 joined a master program at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan. During these two years she studied the systematics of an octocoral family (Melithaeidae) and sampled corals throughout the Ryukyu Archipelago. In 2011 she began her PhD studies at JCU within the School of Pharmacy and Molecular Sciences under the supervision of Dr David Miller. Her PhD research focuses on the coral transtriptomic analysis under different environment conditions, including the effects of elevated CO2 on the coral immune system.