Scripps Student Spotlight: Svenja Kling

Svenja Kling is a fifth-year PhD student studying marine biology at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Kling was born and raised in Mannheim, Germany, and received her bachelor’s degree in biosciences at Heidelberg University in Germany. For her bachelor’s thesis, Kling joined Detlev Arendt’s Lab at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, studying the evolution of cell types in sponges. She received her master’s degree at Heidelberg University, where she studied developmental and stem cell biology and worked in Suat Oezbek’s Lab to explore the extracellular matrix of freshwater polyps. At Scripps Oceanography, Kling is advised by Scripps marine biologist Amro Hamdoun. In the Hamdoun Lab, Kling uses sea urchins to study embryonic development and how embryos are affected by toxicants in the ocean. She also received the Scripps Student Fellowship during her first quarter of study at Scripps Oceanography. 

explorations now (en): Why did you choose to attend Scripps?

Svenja Kling (SK): I was specifically interested in the Hamdoun Lab because of its research. I applied initially for a four-month lab rotation during my master’s program, where we were encouraged to gain lab experience abroad. I was looking specifically for a lab where I could do developmental biology research on marine organisms with a biomedical application. I had also been to San Diego before as a child and had heard about Scripps being one of the most famous marine institutions of the world. 

When I did my research here in the fall of 2019, I really liked the lab and applied to do my PhD. To be honest, giving me an ocean view office, a lab and a surfboard was a pretty good move to convince me to come back.

en: What are you researching at Scripps?

SK: My lab uses the sea urchin as a model organism to study embryonic development and how embryos are affected by toxicants in the ocean. It may sound weird, but sea urchins are deuterostomes, meaning they are more closely related to humans evolutionarily than an anemone or a fruit fly. Because of this, a lot of the molecular pathways and mechanisms we study are highly similar between humans and sea urchins. 

Our lab has made the first ever transgenic sea urchin line, which was a huge project that I am proud to be part of. Transgenic means that a piece of DNA is added into the genome of an organism. For example, taking a protein from a glowing jellyfish and putting it into a sea urchin. In most other model organisms, such as mice and fruit flies, transgenic lines that have a gene tagged with a fluorescent protein have led to amazing scientific discoveries. This fluorescent protein can be used to tag a gene of your choice to study the function of this gene. With the fluorescence tag, we can observe where the gene is and what it is “doing” live under a microscope.

I am currently working on implementing recombinase-mediated genome engineering in sea urchins. With this method, we will be able to swap out integrations, making the line generation faster, reproducible and efficient for different genes.

Ultimately, the tools I am making will be useful as resources for all sea urchin labs in the world. In our lab, we will use my tools to study the development of the sea urchin nervous system and how it is affected by environmental changes. This can tell us not only how marine organisms are affected by uncharacterized neurotoxins but also which mechanisms would be affected in humans as well. 

en: How did you become interested in science and your field of study?

SK: While I always loved science and the ocean in school, I was convinced that I would study the arts or languages. It took a combination of a great biology teacher and realizing that I did not really enjoy writing literature analyses in any language to get me to start studying biosciences for my undergrad. I was highly interested in marine biology but this seemed a rather unrealistic endeavour in southern Germany, and so I chose a lab working on freshwater sponges for my bachelor thesis, where I fell in love with developmental biology. 

I was a little undecided about which direction to pursue after my undergrad in molecular biology or marine biology. So I did two internships, one at a pharmaceutical company and one in classical marine ecology in the Netherlands. Ultimately, I decided to study developmental biology in aquatic organisms to combine all my interests!

en: What’s life like as a Scripps student? Describe a typical day.

SK: I am incredibly lucky to be able to take a beach walk to the lab every morning. When I get to the lab, I usually quickly check on my sea urchins. We have them at all life stages: larval cultures, juveniles and adults and it is very important that they are all healthy and happy. Then I usually sit down at my desk, maybe with a coffee from Pinpoint Cafe, and answer emails, do some writing and experiment planning.

In the lab, I do a lot of work with DNA extracted from sea urchins to study their genes or design new gene constructs to put into the urchin. To generate new transgenic sea urchin lines, we need to get the gene construct into the urchin. We usually do this by microinjections with a small needle into fertilized eggs. I typically spend at least a day per week injecting fertilized eggs under a microscope, and we need around 800-1,000 for a culture. Once they are all injected, I need to grow them and screen them for fluorescence under the microscope. 

Usually I take a break in the afternoon around 5 p.m. to swim around Scripps Pier! The Scripps Pier swim community is steadily growing. Afterwards, I either stay in the lab for more work or take an early evening. In my free time, I like to be active outdoors, bake and lately I have started pottery as a creative outlet.

en: What’s the most exciting thing about your work (in the field or in the lab)?

SK: There are a lot of things. I like that no day is exactly like the other, and that I can always get my hands onto something and not only sit at my desk. I love observing the little sea urchins, I think they are quite cute, and I love taking images and videos of our fluorescent sea urchins under the microscope. 

I really enjoy imaging, especially on our confocal microscope. It requires a lot of patience to get a high-resolution image, and a lot of dexterity to get urchins and larvae into just the right orientation, but it is a very rewarding result. One of my sea urchin larvae images even won the UC San Diego Art of Science contest in 2024. Also, it’s always exciting whenever someone in the lab asks you to take a look at something weird with them. Surprise findings are the best. 

I currently have a side project with my labmate Yoon Lee where we study a gene no one has studied the function of before. We just found that sea urchin larvae lacking this gene have very interesting skeleton shapes. I like my work because it really combines the best of both marine biology and going up to the nitty-gritty molecular details. 

en: Are there any role models or mentors who have helped you along the way?

SK: So many! First, my bachelor thesis mentor, Jacob Musser, who introduced me to molecular lab work and gave me the opportunity to learn many imaging methods in such a short time. Then, my master thesis advisors Thomas Holstein and Suat Oezbek, as well as my direct mentor Bruno Gideon Bergheim. 

At Scripps, I honestly want to say that the entire Scripps community is amazingly supportive. My previous labmate Kate Nesbit has helped me so much when I first started in the lab, and has become a really good friend. I want to give a shoutout to both my advisor Amro Hamdoun and our Professor Emeritus Victor Vacquier, who is a walking sea urchin encyclopedia and improves the lives of all of us in the lab. Additionally, I have served as a Teaching Assistant for the same course (SIO 139) three times now for Scripps Teaching Professor Dovi Kacev, who is an incredibly supportive instructor and a great teacher. 

en: What are some of the challenges you face as a student?

SK: I was initially supposed to start my program a year earlier in 2020 but had to defer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When I arrived in 2021, traveling was still restricted and a lot of lectures and events were still online. Because of this, it was a little harder to meet people and find my place within the Scripps community, but I am happy to say it has all worked out quite well!

Additionally, I had to go through a lot of extra steps settling here as an international student, such as getting a driver’s license, opening a bank account and getting a credit card, which took many hours to figure out and required some time away from my work. There is a bit of continuous background anxiety about being on a student visa, even though it does not affect my day-to-day life much. 

Challenges I face in the lab are ones that every molecular biologist faces at the bench. Experiments can go wrong, and sea urchins can get sick and die. In general, working in the lab requires a high degree of perseverance and stubbornness!

en: What are your plans post-Scripps?

SK: I think my research project sets me up well to have a widely applicable skillset in both academia and the biotech industry. I will be looking for postdoctoral positions in both academia and industry, and I am planning to probably return back to Europe long-term. 

You can find Kling and the Hamdoun Lab on Twitter/X at @svenja.kling and @hamdounlab.