Biology
PhD Student at University of Central Florida
Hometown
Montgomery Village, MD
"The biology department at St. Mary's nurtured my interest in marine and microbiology and thoroughly prepared me for graduate school. Experiences such as exploring the St. Mary's river in my ecology labs and developing microbiology research skills through my St. Mary's Project shaped me into the scientist I am today."
Julianna Martin is a PhD student at the University of Central Florida, where she is conducting research into magnetic bacteria and the role they play helping animals navigate on their migrations.
Martin is part of a team of researchers that are collecting, analyzing and cataloging magnetic bacteria samples, focusing on green and loggerhead sea turtles. Working with UCF’s Marine Turtle Research Group, Martin and her colleagues carefully collect tears from the turtles. The tears are then analyzed for the presence of magnetic bacteria DNA.
The researchers hope to show a connection between magnetic bacteria, the animals' nervous systems, and their ability to navigate accurately over long distances using the earth's magnetic field.