Roger Williams University Research Establishes New Model Organism for Coral Science

September 8, 2026By Kelly Brinza

RWU's CEED has led a 10-year, multi-institutional effort that has established standardized methods for spawning, breeding and culturing temperate coral in the laboratory.

BRISTOL, R.I. - A decade of research at Roger Williams University's Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED) is helping scientists develop a new model organism for studying corals and their relationships with microbes.

Led by Koty Sharp and her research team in CEED, the 10-year, multi-institutional effort established standardized methods for spawning, breeding and culturing the temperate coral Astrangia poculata in the laboratory. The findings, based on collaborative research conducted from 2016 through 2025, are now published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

The work expands scientists' ability to use Astrangia poculata as a model organism for studying coral biology, including the ecology and physiology of coral symbiosis. The temperate coral, found in the Northeast, could help researchers better understand how corals respond to climate change and ocean warming and identify approaches that could help protect threatened tropical coral reef ecosystems.

"This is a really exciting opportunity to use a temperate coral as a model for understanding questions that affect corals around the world," said Sharp, CEED Director and Associate Professor of Marine Biology and Environmental Science. "Having an experimental model species like Astrangia - one that we can predictably raise in the laboratory - opens up fantastic opportunities for innovating and applying research solutions to the global coral reef crisis."

Bringing Coral Researchers Together at RWU

RWU's specialized facilities have made the university an important gathering place for coral research.

Each summer during the research effort, Sharp and her team welcomed colleagues from institutions around the country to RWU's CEED Wet Lab for an annual collaborative research event known as Spawnfest.

The collaboration brought together researchers, faculty, staff and students from institutions including Tufts University, College of the Holy Cross, Cornell University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Texas State University and the Marine Biological Laboratory.

Researchers collected Astrangia poculata through SCUBA diving in Rhode Island waters before bringing the corals to CEED's Wet Lab. There, the team worked to develop and refine laboratory techniques that could reliably induce coral spawning, breed the corals and support their growth through their complete life cycle.

RWU's specialized facilities have made the university an important gathering place for this research. The CEED Wet Lab provides researchers with the ability to support coral spawning, breeding and laboratory culture while bringing collaborators together to design experiments and study coral biology.

Spawnfest also reflects the collaborative nature of the research. Rather than conducting the work in isolation, researchers from multiple institutions come together at RWU to share expertise, develop experiments and train the next generation of scientists.

RWU students have participated in nearly every stage of the coral research, from planning meetings to documenting coral spawning and development.

Training the Next Generation of Coral Researchers

Undergraduate research training has been a central part of the collaboration.

Over the course of the decade, RWU students participated in nearly every stage of the research, from planning meetings and experimental design with visiting researchers to SCUBA collection in Rhode Island waters and long hours in the laboratory observing and documenting coral spawning and development.

Sharp said the experience gives students an opportunity to participate in authentic research while building connections with scientists from across the country.

"The students' efforts are incredibly important to this initiative, and it's a fantastic opportunity for them to engage in authentic research and get experience connecting with experts in the field," said Sharp.

The multi-institutional nature of Spawnfest gives students exposure to a broad network of researchers working in coral biology and related fields. Students work alongside scientists from different institutions, gaining experience with collaborative research while learning how research questions are developed, experiments are designed and scientific results are evaluated.

"Spawnfest was always my favorite time of year," said Tommy DeMarco '21, who graduated from RWU with a Bachelors in Marine Biology. "It was a chance to take everything I had learned in lectures and labs and apply it to real-world work with tangible outcomes. I particularly loved knowing that we were helping to build a model system that could contribute to addressing one of the most devastating issues facing our oceans: coral bleaching."

DeMarco credits Spawnfest with helping guide his career. After graduation, he became a Research Technician at the Smithsonian Marine Station, a research facility with the National Museum of Natural History. He then worked at the New England Aquarium as a Penguin Trainer, and is now a student in Schreiber School of Veterinary Medicine at Rowan University.

Researchers can now build on the ability to reliably raise Astrangia in the laboratory to investigate new questions about coral resilience and animal-microbe interactions.

A New Model for Coral Research

Sharp and her colleagues have been working since 2012 to develop Astrangia poculata as an experimental organism for studying coral symbiosis. Reliable laboratory culture is an important step in expanding the use of the species for research.

The new methods described in the Frontiers in Marine Science publication allow researchers to culture A. poculata through its complete life cycle. This creates new opportunities to study climate resilience, coral health and animal-microbe interactions.

The Spawnfest collaboration has already contributed to several scientific advances, including the first gene "knock-in" in a hard coral using CRISPR methods. That work represents an important step toward identifying genes and metabolic processes that influence how corals respond to rising ocean temperatures.

Now, researchers can build on the ability to reliably raise Astrangia in the laboratory to investigate new questions about coral resilience and animal-microbe interactions.

The goal is to use what scientists learn from this small temperate coral in the Northeast to better understand and address threats facing tropical corals and coral reef ecosystems around the world.