News & Updates

Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) Annual Projects Meeting 2025
The Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) is a UN Decade program building a global biodiversity monitoring system using environmental DNA (eDNA). As co-lead of West Coast OBON, I traveled to the annual OBON Projects Meeting in Hobart to share our 2025 progress, including two workshops, a new reference sequence guide, and protocol development with BeBOP. I learned about innovative Western Pacific efforts such as PacMAN, the Australian Microbiome Initiative, and Make eDNA FAIR. I also helped lead discussions on improving global reference libraries and planning a microgrant proposal. The meeting highlighted the importance of coordinated, FAIR eDNA data to advance marine biodiversity science.

Welcome, Mark Gold, SIO CalCOFI’s new Director
We are thrilled to share the news that Mark Gold has been named new director of the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, the renowned oceanographic

Welcome, Ben Gire, SIO CalCOFI’s new Oceanographic Technician & Programmer
We are excited to welcome Ben Gire to the SIO CalCOFI oceanographic team! Ben holds a B.S. in Oceanography from Cal Poly Humboldt and previously

Welcome, Annie Effinger, SIO CalCOFI’s new Oceanographic Technician
We are excited to welcome Annie Effinger to the SIO CalCOFI oceanographic team! Annie graduated from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where she earned her bachelor’s

Welcome, Josie Adams, SIO CalCOFI’s new Research Associate
We are excited to welcome Josie Adams to the SIO CalCOFI oceanographic team. Josie is a recent graduate of the University of Washington School of Oceanography, where

Welcome, Luke Irza, CalCOFI’s new Research Associate
We are excited to welcome Luke Irza to the CalCOFI team. Luke will serve as a nutrient and seagoing technician. He will carry out the

Welcome, Rachel Pound, CalCOFI’s new Research Associate
We are excited to welcome Rachel Pound to the CalCOFI team. Rachel will serve as a sea going technician and data analyst. She will carry

Welcome Zack Gold, CalCOFI’s new Molecular Ecologist!
We are pleased to welcome Zack Gold to the CalCOFI team. Dr. Gold will serve in a collaborative role as the CalCOFI Molecular Ecologist &

Data science team completes app to explore CalCOFI physical data
CalCOFI collaborated with the Central Coast Data Science Partnership at UCSB to develop an exploratory app to visualize seawater characteristics off the coast of California