Noriko Okamoto Ph.D

Under construction

Line 67 is a marine survey line, located off the central California coast. As a part of a multi-institute collaboration with our partners at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), University of  Maryland and University of Exeter, I am working on the biodiversity of heterotrophic/mixotrophic protists in the Ocean. Environmental sequence of the ocean revealed the enormous but previously unknown biodiversity of protists, especially the small ones. Our questions include alpha taxonomy and functional roles that they play out in the blue ocean. The biggest challenge is that they have never been sighted, let alone cultured. My approach is combine single cell barcoding with micrographic information to understand who's out there. This will provide a foundation ground for further fuctioning analyses of the microbial community.

Malaria parasites put half the world population (~3.3 billion) at risk according to World Malaria Report (WHO). These parasites belongs to the group Apicomplexa along with other human pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii or livestock/poultry pathogens such as Eimeria  and Theileria. The apicomplexan parasites have non-parasitic sister lineages collectively called the colpodellids. Both the apicaomplexans and the copodellids share sub cellular structure called the apical complex, which is used as a host invasion in parasites and as a feeding apparatus for grazers. I'm interested in the evolution of the apical complex in these groups as well as their out groups - the perkinsids and the dinoflagellates.​

Intertidal sandy beach is a hidden garden on the edge of sea and the land that harbours dense and unique microbial community. It is very dynamic environment, where tidal, seasonal and spontaneous changes happen all the time and always bring something new.

Currently, I am working on to launch Beach Microbiome Project with internal and external collaborators to set the baseline and address questions on beach microbes.

I am a marine microbiologist, specialized in protists (single-celled eukaryotes) working at University of British Columbia.

My primary passion is to discover yet unknown tiny bugs living in anywhere marine - including intertidal sandy beaches and coastal to open water.

Here are my current and past projects, which ranges from various aspects of protists.

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