Email: safay@berkeley.edu

Phone: (510) 642-1607

His research: "My work examines how ecology drives the evolution of endosymbiotic interactions. Foraminifera, marine protists with shells, are particularly interesting for comparative evolutionary studies in symbiosis because they host such a broad array of algal endosymbionts, including diatoms, dinoflagellates, rhodophytes, and chlorophytes. My colleagues and I have several ongoing projects, including: interactions between soritid foraminifera and Symbiodinium dinoflagellates, landscape and community ecology of the endosymbiotic alga Symbiodinium on coral reefs, and character evolution and systematics of foraminifera."

Why he loves biology: "I love looking at tiny things. I especially love diving into that fantastic hidden world that lies on the other side of the microscope. The complexity of the living world is so wonderful. I love making and fixing things, and doing biology (both in the lab and field) often involves setting up improvised equipment. And I love the creative part of communicating my work, writing and making illustrations and figures. That’s what’s so fun about research: every day there is a different kind of problem to tackle."

Fay, S., M. Weber, and J. Lipps. 2009. The distribution of Symbiodinium diversity within individual host foraminifera. Coral Reefs 28:717-726.  

Fay, S., J. H. Lipps and M. Weber. 2008. Evolutionary Potential of Photosymbiosis on Other Planets: Astrobiology 8 (2): 469.

Fay, S., M. Weber, and J. H. Lipps. 2008. The cell ecology of Symbiodinium in soritid foraminifera. Reefs for the Future, 11th Internat. Coral Reef Symposium 2008 – Abstracts, p. 286

Lipps, J. H., L. R. Casazza, S. A. Fay, M. Weber. 2008. Evolutionary History of Photosymbiosis and Its Implications for the Future of Reefs. Abstracts with Programs - Geological Society of America, 40 (6), xx

Weber, M., S. Fay, and J. H. Lipps. 2008. The biogeography of Symbiodinium from Tridacna maxima across the Indo-Pacific. Reefs for the Future, 11th Internat. Coral Reef Symposium 2008 – Abstracts, p. 255.

Losman, J.A., X.P. Chen, B.Q. Vuong, S. Fay, P.B. Rothman. 2003. Protein Phosphatase 2A Regulates the Stability of Pim Protein Kinases. J Biol Chem. 278(7):4800-5.

Chen, X.P., J.A. Losman, S. Cowan, E. Donahue, S. Fay, B.Q. Vuong, M.C. Nawijn, D. Capece, V.L. Cohan, P.B. Rothman. 2002. Pim serine/threonine kinases regulate the stability of Socs-1 protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 99(4):2175-80.