Brayan Vilanova-Cuevas

The paper investigates the environmental persistence of the pathogenic ciliate DaScPc outside its host, finding it persists in reef environments independently of D. antillarum and may follow a cryptic 'boom-and-bust' cycle.

This study detects a pathogenic ciliate in historical sea urchin specimens and analyzes microbial communities to investigate its ecological history and disease association.

The paper identifies a Philaster sp. parasite responsible for mass mortality of sea urchins across the Caribbean and Mediterranean, showing its rapid global spread and potential for long-range transmission.

The paper designs and validates a specific PCR protocol to detect a clade of Philaster sp. associated with Diadema antillarum scuticociliatosis, improving detection accuracy over existing methods.