When you think of a coral reef, what do you picture? Perhaps you imagine colorful branching structures jutting out of rock and the sea floor, with flourishing communities of fish swimming about. Or if you’ve been paying attention to news about global warming for the past decade or two, maybe you picture desolate expanses of bleached corals, their bone-like structures eerily reminiscent of a mass graveyard. What you might not picture is a zoomed-in view of the coral ecosystem: the multitude of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and algae that occupy the intricate crevices of every coral. Our guest this week is Emily Schmeltzer, a fifth year PhD candidate in the Microbiology department. Emily studies the metagenomes of the coral holobiont and shares her story with us. Hosted by Grace Deitzler and trainee Gabriel Sunday Ayayia.