Marina Potapova

Marina Potapova is an Associate Professor at Drexel University and serves as Curator of Diatoms at the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS), which merged with Drexel in 2012. Her work focuses on diatom ecology and taxonomy, with applications in water quality monitoring and environmental research.

Education:

• PhD in Ecology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1993
• BS/MS in Botany, University of St. Petersburg, Russia, 1984

Research Interests: Dr. Potapova studies diatoms as environmental indicators, using techniques such as light and scanning electron microscopy, geometric morphometrics, molecular methods, and ecological modeling. Her research spans aquatic ecosystems, biodiversity conservation, and pollution impact analysis, with a current emphasis on developing high-throughput methods like virtual microscopy and DNA metabarcoding for algal assemblage characterization.

Labs and Teams: She curates the ANS Diatom Herbarium, the largest diatom collection in the Americas. She has held leadership roles in the International Society for Diatom Research and contributes to editorial boards of key diatom resources including Diatoms of North America and Diatombase.