Team

Greg Cope – Director
Research Interests: My research interests are in aquatic toxicology, ecology, and physiology, as well as in the transport, fate, and effects of aquatic pollutants and other human-mediated stressors such as temperature and climate change. My research often utilizes sentinel aquatic organisms, biomarkers of exposure, effect, or susceptibility, or alternative toxicological models from which linkages to environmental and human health are evaluated. The mission of my research is to deliver high-impact, objective, science-based information to federal and state natural resource management agencies and to other policy or decision makers for effectively informing conservation, management, and recovery of imperiled species of native freshwater mollusks and fish.

Email: greg_cope@ncsu.edu

Chris Eads – Assistant Director and Facility Manager

Research Interests: My specialty centers around the biology and propagation of freshwater mussels. My research has focused on their early life history requirements and improving captive rearing techniques. I also assist other staff and students working with mussels themselves.
Email: chris_eads@ncsu.edu

Sean Buczek – Assistant Director for Research

Research Interests: My research interests include aquatic ecology, toxicology, fisheries science, and nutrient dynamics. My work has largely focused on the effects of anthropogenic activity on aquatic ecosystems and resulting implications for freshwater mussel conservation. The goal of this applied work
has been to assist resource managers in the design of adaptive management practices to reduce non-target toxicity while achieving intended project goals.
Email: sbbuczek@ncsu.edu

Loretta Lutackas – Conservation Aquaculturist

Research Interests: I am an aquatic biologist with a love for recirculating aquaculture systems that has found a perfect blend of the two at YMACC researching and propagating freshwater mussels and snails. My focus is on improving captive propagation techniques through in vitro propagation research of mussels and optimizing captive rearing techniques of freshwater snails. Before working with freshwater invertebrates, I worked in hydroponics, biofuel engineering, and elasmobranch ecology.
Email: lmlutack@ncsu.edu

Craig Lawson – Conservation Aquaculturist

Research Interests: My role involves support of other staff at YMACC in the propagation and study of our various charter species, as well as providing education/outreach regarding these species and their importance to the public. My specific focus within the lab is on fish and fish holding systems. My specialty is research aquaculture, and I have reared and propagated a variety of both freshwater and marine species for research purposes over the course of my career. Previous research I have worked on has centered around recirculating aquaculture of novel warmwater marine fish species, hatchery impacts on salmonids, and captive grow out strategies for marine invertebrates.
Email: dclawson@ncsu.edu

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Madi Polera – PhD Candidate

Project: Development of health biomarkers for freshwater mussels

I am a freshwater ecologist interested in how genetics, environment, and communities interact to affect wildlife health. My current focus is on ways to determine if a freshwater mussel is healthy and resilient enough to handle stress without harming the mussel. Specifically, I am using the mussel immune system, metabolism, and associated microbes to inform conservation and restoration. Prior to becoming a mussel person I worked in freshwater nutrient cycling, harmful algal bloom dynamics, migratory fish restoration, and PFAS toxicology.

Edie Nissen – Master’s Student

Project: Parentage-based tagging of imperiled freshwater mussels

My research interests include aquatic and terrestrial ecology, conservation, and population genetics. I am currently getting my M.Sc in Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, and am researching the advancement of conservation genetic tools with the goal to improve and monitor hatchery success for imperiled freshwater mussel species.