Using DNA sequencing to show how marine worms adapt to deep-sea conditions

Maeva Perez is fascinated by marine worms. Her first encounter with these cold-blooded invertebrates dates back to her time at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, where she was completing a master's in biology. Her thesis was on the symbiotic relationship between a species of marine worm and the bacteria in its environment that helped the worm adapt to a seemingly inhospitable ecosystem at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.