Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Names Scripps Scientist as Research Fellow

Martín Tresguerres, an assistant professor of marine biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, has been selected as a 2013 Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Sloan Research Fellowships “seek to stimulate fundamental research by early career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise.” The two-year research fellowships “are awarded yearly to 126 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field.”

A native of Argentina, Tresguerres joined Scripps in 2011 and conducts research on a wide range of organisms, from sharks to corals to one-celled microalgae called diatoms. His interests include the evolutionary relationships between basic cellular functions and complex “whole organism” physiology.

His studies utilize biochemical, molecular and cell biology, and physiological techniques to elucidate how marine organisms sense and adjust to acid/base disturbances arising from environmental and metabolic stress. Recently, he has been focusing on how these mechanisms may trigger physiological responses to ocean acidification. Other areas of his interest include aquaculture, biofuels, drug discovery, and evolution.

Tresguerres received bachelor’s and master’s degrees specializing in aquatic biology at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He received a Ph.D. in physiology and cell biology at the University of Alberta (Canada), and completed his postdoctoral training in molecular chemosensors and signal transduction at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

His research has also included marine invertebrate ecology, marine mammal taxonomy, aquatic physiology, and fisheries.

The Sloan Foundation also named two Scripps alumni as research fellow recipients: Greg Dick (2006), now at the University of Michigan, and Loren McClenachan (2009), currently at Colby College.

-- Mario C. Aguilera

February 14, 2013