RESEARCHER BIOS
Marsh J. Youngbluth, Ph.D. - Principle Investigator (HBOI)
Charles Jacoby, Ph.D. - Visiting Scientist (University of Florida)
Franz Ulblein, Ph.D. - Visiting Scientist (University of Bergen, Norway)
David Shale, Ph.D. - Visiting Scientist
Andrey Suntsov, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow (HBOI)
Jessica Frost-Fajans - HBOI Research Assistant
Brian Ortman, Ph.D. Candidate - University of Connecticut Avery Point
Brandy Ninesling - HBOI Research Assistant
Claire Nouvian - Guest Filmmaker and Journalist
Kelly Robinson - Graduate student (University of Florida - Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences)
Marsh J. Youngbluth, Ph.D. •
youngbluth@hboi.edu
Dr. Marsh Youngbluth received his Master's degree in Zoology in 1966 from
the University of Hawaii, and his Ph.D. in Biology in 1972 from Stanford
University. He is a Senior Scientist with the Division of Marine Science at
Harbor Branch Oceanographic institution. He has served as a visiting
scientist at the University of Bergen, Norway, the Japanese Center for
Promotion of Science, and National Center for Scientific Research in France.
Dr. Youngbluth has also served as NSF Biological Oceanography Program
Director, and as Program manager for the NOAA National Undersea Research
Program.
Dr. Youngbluth's research in the field of biological oceanography is currently focused
on in situ investigations of mesopelagic zooplankton, particularly gelatinous fauna.
With respect to siphonophores and medusae, Dr. Youngbluth is interested in their ecological
roles as predators in deep-water coastal regimes. Other active projects include studies of
large appendicularians as mediators of particle flux and transport in midwater and benthic
boundary habitats.
Much of Dr. Youngbluth's work employs the Harbor Branch JOHNSON SEA-LINK
research submersibles. A firm believer in employing "the right tools for the
job," Dr. Youngbluth continues to utilize innovative technologies in the
ongoing exploration of the mid-ocean realm.
Charles Jacoby, Ph.D. •
cajacoby@ufl.edu
Dr. Chuck Jacoby received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biology from Illinois State
University in 1974 and 1976, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford
University in 1980. Since then, he has held research positions at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institution, the University of Queensland in Australia, and the University of Auckland in
New Zealand. Dr. Jacoby joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
in Australia, where he led research teams for a decade and provided expert advice in four
multi-million dollar, multidisciplinary, environmental studies. Dr. Jacoby is currently an
estuarine and coastal specialist in the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences at the
University of Florida.
Dr. Jacoby has investigated estuarine, coastal and deepwater marine systems in the tropics,
subtropics and temperate zones of the United States, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand.
His scientific pursuits have appeared in peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on sediment
porewater, water quality, benthic microalgae, seagrasses, saltmarshes, zooplankton, meiofauna,
macroinvertebrates and fishes.
Dr. Jacoby has collaborated with Dr. Youngbluth since 1980. They have conducted studies of
gelatinous zooplankton, particle flux and demersal zooplankton. Dr. Jacoby plans to continue
ecological work on gelatinous zooplankton to quantify their roles in offshore and inshore
ecosystems.
Franz Uiblein, Ph.D. •
franz.uiblein@imr.no
Franz received his academic training at the University of Vienna and was awarded his doctoral degree
(1989). He is currently a Principal Scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway and
Guest Professor and Lecturer at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Franz has had postdoctoral and
research fellow appointments at the University of Hamburg, Germany, the Laboratoire Souterrain of
CNRS, France, and the Konrad-Lorenz Institute of Comparative Behavioural Research, Vienna, Austria.
He served as Curator of Fishes at the Natural History Museum and Research Institute Senckenberg,
Frankfurt, Germany. Franz has supervised several graduate (Masters and PhD) students.
His research projects have focused on behavioral, morphological, and community investigations of
marine fishes within shallow, slope, and oceanic environments in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea,
the central and northern Atlantic, and the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean. Franz is actively studying
deep-water macrofauna of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR-ECO project, www.mar-eco.no) and pursues
comparative studies of the fish fauna from the Canary Islands, the Bay of Biscay, and the Norwegian
and Barents Sea.
David Shale, Ph.D. •
david.shale@virgin.net
David received his PhD from the University of Reading in 1973 for ecological invesigations of
prosobranch veliger larvae. He worked at the Instiute of Oceanographic Sciences in the UK for 8 years
and participated on many oceanographic cruises aboard the RRS Discovery, working mainly in the North
Atlantic ocean. He studied neuston and pelagic molluscs and worked on the development of nets to sample
deep-sea zooplankton and nekton.
In 1979 he left full-time research to make wildlife films for television. He has worked mainly for the BBC
Natural History Unit and has contributed to over 40 wildlife documentaries including Land of the Tiger, Alien
Empire and most recently "Live from the Abyss" and "The Blue Planet" for which he and other members of
the team were awarded a BAFTA. His photographs have been used to illustrate books and magazines.
Andrey Suntsov, Ph.D. •
asuntsov@hboi.edu
Andrey is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. He received his
Master's degree in Marine Science (1997) from William and Mary College in Virginia and his Ph.D.
in Ichthyology (2003) from the PP Shirshov Institute of Oceanography in Moscow, Russia. Dr.
Andrey Suntsov is a professional ichthyologist who concentrates on the early life history of marine
fishes and the taxonomy of oceanic micronekton. He has participated in several research cruises in
the North Atlantic, Central Pacific, Barents Sea, southern Greenland waters and in the South-China Sea.
Andrey has also participated in multi-disciplinary investigations at the hydrothermal vent field "Rainbow"
near the Azores with the Russian deep-sea manned submersible "Mir". This experience sparked his
interests in mesopelagic biology, especially in-situ research on deep-sea fishes using advanced ocean
technologies and submersibles. Andrey's ongoing project involves comparative studies of vestibular
system and otoliths of deep-sea fishes to determine age and growth patterns. He is also conducting
taxonomic studies of midwater fishes and ichthyoplankton collected recently during the Micronekton
Experiment off Hawaii.
Jessica Frost-Fajans •
jfrost-fajans@hboi.edu
Jessica received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science from the University of
Florida (UF) in 2001 and completed a Master of Science Degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
from UF in 2003. The title of her thesis was "The Ecology of Lake Griffin, a Hypereutrophic
Cyanobacteria-Dominated Lake in Central Florida, USA". Jessica earned the Best Student Paper
award at the North American Lake Management Society Symposium (2003). Her interests are
marine biology, aquaculture, freshwater phycology, and biomedical technology. During this cruise
she will work with Marsh Youngbluth to measure excretion rates of gelatinous zooplankton and to
assist with ongoing studies of predation by physonect siphonophores.
Brian Ortman, Ph.D. Candidate •
brian.ortman@uconn.edu
Brian Ortman is a PhD student at the University of Connecticut Avery Point under the direction of Ann
Bucklin. He is interested in the molecular zoogeography and biodiversity of gelatinous zooplankton. As
part of his dissertation he is currently working on the phylogeography of Nanomia cara as well as the
population genetics of other boreally distributed taxa.
Brandy Ninesling •
bninesling@hboi.edu
Brandy Ninesling is a Research Assistant in the Division of Marine Education at the Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institution. She graduated from the University of Florida with a BS. degree in Wildlife
Ecology and a minor in Zoology (1998). Her previous academic, field, and laboratory experiences
include teaching cell biology to undergraduates, culturing corals and marine ornamental fish, and
studying marine mammals. Brandy will be assisting in all phases of the research on the predatory
habits of siphonophores, particularly the Nanomia cara colonies.
Claire Nouvian •
clairenouvian@wanadoo.fr
Claire Nouvian is a freelance writer and film director. She began her career as a wildlife journalist
before moving into television and publishing. Claire has spent the past seven years making science
and wildlife documentaries, travelling all over the world whilst working on series such as Untamed
Asia, The Intruders and Wild Nights. A long-term fascination with the sea and her intensive practice
of scuba diving led her to specialize in underwater films with a valued commitment to the award-winning
documentary Night Underwater. She has collaborated on the film Microcean, the underwater continuation
of the international success Microcosmos by producer Jacques Perrin. Following a decisive collaboration
with MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) over three years ago, she has focused on
unveiling mysteries in the deep sea to the French public. She just finished making a documentary on the
recycling of whale carcasses at the sea floor for the European educational channel ARTE and is involved
in other projects, which include the construction of a small photographic sphere with French high school
students.
Kelly Robinson, M.S. Candidate •
robinson04@sbc.edu
Kelly Robinson is currently working towards her M.S. (Marine Ecology) at the University of Florida's
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences under the supervision of Drs. Thomas Frazer, Charles
Jacoby, and Marsh Youngbluth. She received her Bachelor's degree in Biology (2004) from Sweet Briar
College (Virginia). For her masters' research, she is studying respiration by appendicularians and the
effects appendicularians have on phytoplankton community cell size fractions. Kelly's interests include
marine biology, coastal ecology, and biological oceanography. During this cruise she will assist with
respiration experiments of gelatinous zooplankton and with the ongoing studies of predation by the
physonect sipbonophore Nanomia cara.