Sephena joined CERG, Massey University, New Zealand, as a graduate student in 2024. Her MSc research focuses on the structural and functional roles of adrenal glands in delphinids with an emphasis on life history traits and contaminant burdens. She utilizes histological and pathological approaches to examine adrenal glands across and between delphinid species and is being supervised by Prof Karen Stockin, Dr Katharina Peters and Matthew Perrott. Sephena completed her undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2022. After which, Sephena joined the Bio-Telemetry and Behavioral Ecology Lab as a research technician and was awarded the Blundy Family Marine Science Fellowship through the California Ocean Alliance. Here, she conducted DNA and hormone extractions from cetacean blubber biopsy samples, and ran immunoassays to understand shifts in population demographics in a changing environment. 

 

PhD Project:

Sephena's PhD focuses on Adrenal form and function in delphinids: Influence of life history and contaminant burdens.

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Supervisors: Prof Karen Stockin, Dr Katharina J Peters and Dr Matthew Perrott