Transforming river health, ecology, seaweed, and pest control: Revolutionary SciRIS research

The College of Science Research and Innovation Seed (SciRIS) Program continues to drive groundbreaking research by fostering collaboration and innovation. Founded in 2018, SciRIS funds interdisciplinary research projects that aim to create meaningful societal impact. This year, Stage 2 awardees are working to revolutionize our understanding of river health, ecological communities, sustainable seaweed cultivation and insecticide resistance.

There are two tracks through the program: SciRIS team awards (Stages 1-3) and the SciRIS individual investigator award (SciRIS-ii). SciRIS Stages 1-3 funds teams in three stages to support training, research, and capacity-building, accelerating work toward external funding opportunities. SciRIS-ii funds individual faculty to establish research relationships with external partners, enabling them to demonstrate the feasibility of their ideas and quickening the pace of scientific discovery.

Four teams received SciRIS Stage 2 awards.

Bioinformatics for integrated river health

Biologist David Lytle’s project focuses on understanding the complex interactions between multiple biotic components, including food base, disease landscape and microbiome in the lower Colorado River, including the Grand Canyon. Lytle will be working with three Oregon State colleagues, along with collaborators at the United States Geological Service and the National Parks Service. The project aims to develop diagnostic tools that can identify fish parasites and diseases at a molecular level and provide preliminary data on how these parasite, microbial and invertebrate communities change over time.

Oregon State Collaborators
David A. Lytle, Integrative Biology
Justin Sanders, Microbiology, (College of Science and Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine)
Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology (College of Science and Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine)
Claire Couch, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences (College of Agricultural Sciences and Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine)

Government Collaborators
Ted Kennedy, Kim Dibble, Charles Yackulic, Kate Behn, Jessica Anderson, Bridget Deemer, U.S. Geological Service
Emily Omana, Brandon Holton, National Parks Service

Spotted wing drosophila are an invasive pest that attack several crops essential to Oregon farmers, including ripening blueberries, blackberries, apples and stone fruit. Fruit fly populations evolve rapidly and the Patel and Vrailas-Mortimer group seek to understand the risks of resistance evolution before they adapt to local pesticides.

Insecticide resistance in spotted-winged drosophila

Geneticist Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer's project addresses the significant agricultural threat posed by spotted-winged drosophila (SWD), an invasive pest species. The research aims to advance understanding of the genetic basis and evolution of insecticide resistance in these pest populations through experimental work, genetic techniques and mechanistic mathematical modeling. The project involves collaboration with experts from UC Davis and focuses on developing sustainable control methods. Directly connected to the needs of the Oregon agricultural community, this project is a prime example of OSU’s strong community engagement initiatives as a land grant institution. By learning more about the mechanisms of insecticide resistance in spotted-winged drosophila, growers will be better able to plan and prioritize their insecticide applications to mitigate resistance.

Oregon State Collaborators
Alysia Vrailas Mortimer, Biochemistry & Biophysics
Swati Patel, Mathematics
Serhan Mermer, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology (College of Agricultural Sciences)

Analytical Tools to Understand Ecological Communities

Statistician Yuan Jiang’s SciRIS project aims to create novel analytical tools for assessing how organisms in complex ecological communities like microbes and parasites interact and affect each other over time. The research will leverage long-term community datasets from wild vertebrate host populations with improved data techniques that allow these large complex data sets to be analyzed more efficiently and with environmental conditions factored in. In addition to improve our ecological understanding of these communities, Jiang's project seeks to extend the accessibility of these analytical tools to diverse scientific audiences through summer camps, workshops and online tutorials. The project will also involve collaboration with colleagues and students at the Universidad of San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador to build capacity in data analytics.

Oregon State Collaborators
Yuan Jiang, Statistics
Lan Xue, Statistics
Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
Claire Couch, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences (College of Agricultural Sciences)

Seaweed morphology and chemical makeup can vary dramatically depending on environmental factors like seawater composition and sunlight exposure, making it a challenge to nutritionally analyze consistent materials. James Fox and his contributors have developed a system for growing seaweed on land under consistent conditions for analysis.

Unlocking the potential of seaweed

Algal physiologist James Fox’s project explores the chemical composition and potential applications of Pacific Dulse, a protein-rich seaweed native to the Pacific coastline. The team will create a special growth chamber to cultivate seaweed on land under controlled conditions. This allows researchers to maximize the production of important compounds found in Pacific Dulse, which can be used in nutrition and medicine. The project also emphasizes community outreach and inclusive excellence by engaging diverse student populations and partnering with outreach programs. Additionally, the project will investigate the impact of different processing methods on the nutritional quality of seaweed extracts.

Oregon State Collaborators
James Fox, Microbiology
Myriam Cotten, Biochemistry and Biophysics
Ford Evans, Hatfield Marine Science Center
Evan Forsythe, Integrative Biology
Scott Geddes, Chemistry Program Coordinator OSU-Cascades
Jung Jwon, Department of Food Science & Technology (College of Agricultural Sciences)
Christopher Suffridge, Microbiology

These projects highlight the innovative and impactful research being conducted by the 2025 SciRIS awardees. Each project not only advances scientific knowledge by also emphasizes collaboration, community engagement and inclusive excellence.