Terence Leach

Biography

Terence started as a Ph.D. student in the Hofmann lab in 2016. He entered graduate school with interests in invertebrate zoology, developmental biology, and molecular biology on top of teaching and mentoring undergraduate students. From those initial interests, Terence began conducting research focused on how marine invertebrate species found in the Santa Barbara Channel were influenced by the environmental stressors associated with climate change (ocean acidification, ocean warming, extreme events, etc), specifically in regards to their reproduction and development. Over the course of his Ph.D. his research has honed in to look more specifically at how paternal exposure to elevated temperatures (caused by ocean warming or marine heatwave events) impacts reproduction and their offspring's performance under similar stress using the ecologically relevant purple sea urchin species, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. This research involves techniques such as larval culturing, fertilization success assays, and quantification of gene expression patterns.