Mary Nia M. Santos

Head, Aquatic Animal Health Section - Aquaculture Research and Development Division at the Department of Agriculture, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (DA-NFRDI)

Host institution: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences

She will conduct a research on the type VI secretion system (T6SS) in marine roseobacters to develop a biocontrol tool for aquaculture. As a BS Fisheries graduate from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas and Balik Scientist awardee, she hopes to apply her knowledge to accelerate the development of aquaculture research in the Philippines.

During her PhD training, she worked at Academia Sinica in Taiwan on the molecular mechanisms of a protein secretion nanomachine called T6SS in a plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

She has twenty years of research experience in molecular biology, microbiology, biotechnology and aquaculture at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD), Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines Diliman and Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Before joining NFRDI, she was an Assistant Professor III at the Division of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, UPV.

She enjoys travelling and playing badminton.