UH Hilo Students, Martin Helmkampf, Kehau Hagiwara, Courtney Ip, Brandi Antonio, Ellie Armstrong, and Wesley Ulloa collaborated with Francis Saskia-Kawada of UH Manoa and Jonathan Awaya of the UH Hilo Biology Department to publish their findings on the Hawaiian marine sponge symbiont, Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea.

This study focuses on the biosynthetic pathways of the bacterium and may help to further our understandings of the ecological interactions between the native Hawaiian sponge and its symbiotic microbe.

Dr. Jon Awaya also noted that this research is exciting because it was completely conducted at UH Hilo and by UH students.