He uses genome-enabled molecular biology and biochemistry approaches to investigate cellular responses of phytoplankton to physiological stress and viral infection, as mechanisms of mortality and bloom termination, as well as the diversity of bacterial ectohydrolytic enzymes. Kay won the 2005 Raymond A. Lindeman Award for his graduate work at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, examining the biogeochemical consequences of small-scale interactions between marine bacteria and diatoms. His ASLO web lecture is an expanded version of a plenary talk at ASLO’s 2005 summer meeting in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. L&O e-Lectures