Rebecca Vega Thurber
Rebecca Vega Thurber (born December 30, 1975) is an American microbial ecologist and coral reef scientist. She is the Pernot distinguished chair of microbiology at Oregon State University since 2020. She is a team leader of the Tara Pacific expedition and co-producer of the coral reef documentary "Saving Atlantis". Scientific career. Vega Thurber was awarded a US National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue postdoctoral research at San Diego State University under the supervision of Forest Rohwer in coral virology and microbiology. Her first faculty appointment was as an assistant professor in the Department of  Biology at Florida International University. She subsequently moved to Oregon State also as an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, where is an associate professor holding the Pernot distinguished chair. Research. Vega Thurber started her research career as a developmental biologist studying apoptosis in early embryogenesis in the model invertebrate organism, the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. It was during her postdoctoral years, when she switched her focus to coral reef science and coral viruses and bacteria in particular. She uncovered that corals contain unique assemblages of viruses that are involved mediating coral reef health. In those early years, Vega  Thurber adopted the use genomic and bioinformatic approaches to her research enabling metagenome and microbiome-based inferences. As a faculty member she expanded collaborations with marine ecologists, Deron Burkepile, Erinn Muller among others. Those collaborations led to the discovery of major roles microbial assemblages play in coral reef environments. Her standing as a world expert in coral microbiology led her to be appointed as one of the lead scientists of the Tara Pacific Expedition. Vega Thurber is a member of the NSF Long Term Ecological Research Network in Moorea, Tahiti. Mentorship. Vega Thurber has mentored ten Ph.D. students and eight  postdocs. She has mentored dozens of undergraduate students in marine microbiology.