Liza Roger

Liza M. Roger is an Assistant Professor in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University affiliated with the School of Ocean Futures. She has an associate’s degree from the Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (France), a B.Sc. Hon. in Marine Biology and Natural Resources Management, and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Geochemistry from the University of Western Australia. She did a postdoc in Dr. Nastassja Lewinski’s Sustainable Nanotechnologies Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University (USA).

Dr. Roger is a coral cell biologist and biochemistry whose research investigates the molecular mechanisms that determine coral responses to environmental stress. Her team studies how coral cells sense environmental change, transmit stress signals and regulate the stability of the cnidarian-algal symbiosis, including the cellular mechanisms underlying coral bleaching. The Marine Biochem Research Lab (a.k.a., Roger Lab) combines biochemical cell biology and emerging technologies to develop new experimental approaches for coral research and coral health.

Before obtaining her Ph.D., she worked for the Australian Institute of Marine Science where she collaborated on a variety of reef-based projects, from biological and physical oceanography to benthic ecology. She also has experience as a cetacean naturalist (Iceland) and a scuba diving instructor (Mediterranean Sea and SE Asia).