Erin Borbee is a molecular ecologist interested in understanding the dynamics of microbial symbiosis in corals. She received a BS in Marine Biology and and BA in Chemistry from Roger Williams University in 2017 and her PhD from the University of Rhode Island in 2021. Since completing graduate school, Erin has worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Texas State University, until joining Southwestern as an assistant professor in 2025. 

Erin’s research uses two cnidarian systems to investigate the relationships between host and its microbial symbionts. The two systems she uses are Astrangia poculata, a stony coral found along the coasts of southern Massachusetts all the way through Texas, and Exaipatasia diaphana, a model anemone system easily reared in the lab. Erin is particularly interested in using these systems to disentangle the tradeoffs between energetics and immunity associated with these symbioses using molecular approaches Astrangia poculata colonies in an aquarium system Exaiptasia diaphana anemones in aquarium system.

Diaz de Villegas, S. C., Borbee, E. M., Abdelbaki, P. Y., & Fuess, L. E. (2024). Prior heat stress increases pathogen susceptibility in the model cnidarian Exaiptasia diaphana. Communications Biology, 7(1), 1328.

Changsut, I. V., Borbee, E. M., Womack, H. R., Shickle, A., Sharp, K. H., & Fuess, L. E. (2024). Photosymbiont density is correlated with constitutive and induced immunity in the facultatively symbiotic coral, Astrangia poculata. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 64(5), 1278-1290.

Borbee, E. M., Puspa, I. A., Gelis, E. R. E., Setiawan, F., Maduppa, H., Humphries, A. T., & Lane, C. E. (2024). Surface currents shape protist community structure across the Indo‐Pacific. Journal of Phycology, 60(4), 816-833.

Borbee, E. M., Ayu, I. P., Carvalho, P., Gelis, E. R. E., Setiawan, F., Subhan, B., ... & Lane, C. E. (2023). Rubble fields shape planktonic protist communities in Indonesia at a local scale. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 70(2), e12954.