XibaLab

09/07/2026

We concluded a successful workshop to evaluate the health status of over 100 species of sea stars in accordance with the IUCN Red List!!! Even better, this was a global endeavor with representatives from the 5 continents!!!

This is the first workshop by the IUCN SSC Marine Star Specialist Group and will lead to an exponential growth of our knowledge of the conservation status and needs for sea stars. Prior to this workshop only two species of sea stars had been evaluated!!!

This is a great start, but there is a lot of work ahead of us!

Thanks to all the participants and institutions whom made it possible

IUCN SSC CPSG
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
IUCN SSC Marine Conservation Committee
Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance
Indianapolis Zoo
Marine Life Sanctuaries Society of BC

Biology Department at SFASU
CoSM_SFA

08/21/2026

Se acaba de publicar un pequeño artículo de divulgación sobre los remipedios!
La revista Colibríes (Paginas 68-71) está enfocada en los peques
https://www.ciad.mx/colibries/

08/18/2026

It was great to help with the long term monitoring of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary one of the healthiest reefs!
This trip involved scientific and working dives to do photo transects, recover scientific instruments, getting environmental samples, and so much more!

Fernando Calderón Gutiérrez
Biology Department at SFASU
Stephen F. Austin State University

08/08/2026

06/26/2026

First sequences obtained at the XibaLab!!!
Millions of them!!!!
Molecular ecology tools opens a completely new world of understanding of the underwater cave ecosystems!

06/05/2026

The fieldwork is only the first part the process to understand the ecological patterns from the underwater caves. During the end of April and May the XibaLab became fully operational and we processed samples collected during multiple years in the caves with multiple collaborators!

Thanks to MS student Danielle Bragg and hard-working undergraduate students we are now waiting for tons of DNA sequencing data to be analyzed!

Special thanks to Liz Borda's Lab!
Stephen F. Austin State University

05/06/2026

At the XibaLab we are proud to announce that Dr. Fernando Calderón Gutiérrez was selected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Karst Waters Institute!

This institute is a non-profit organization focused on the improvement of the fundamental understanding of karst water systems for professionals and the public representing a perfect alignment with the focus of the XibaLab!

05/01/2026

The XibaLab is now working!
🧬🧬🧬
Most of the photos and videos on the projects are usually about the fieldwork, but the reality is that most of the work is behind a pipette or a computer.
Today Danielle Bragg and Dr. Fernando Calderón Gutiérrez realized the first DNA extraction of sediment samples, marking the first lab procedure performed at the XibaLab at Stephen F. Austin State University!
We are now officially fully open!

04/23/2026

Learn more about the fieldwork and origins of the XibaLab in this video published by Lumberjack Impact Stephen F. Austin State University!
The videos discussed during this interview are linked in the comments. Thanks again to Jonathan Bird's Blue World!!

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04/07/2026

Come to hear about the research done in the XibaLab at the SFASU Biology Club!