What started with a Zoom message during an online class over the pandemic, turned into a friendship between two women with an equal passion for surfing and science.

“I recognized Michaela’s face as someone I had seen surfing. I was like ‘Oh my god, I have a friend in this class,’ when I thought I was going to know nobody,” said Natalie Grayson.

After reaching out via Zoom, Grayson and Michaela Alksne bonded over their time spent surfing together during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, what initially started as time spent in the water together, transformed into a similar love for the science within it.

Both growing up surfing, the duo developed a deep appreciation for the ocean at an early age. Grayson spent her childhood playing around in tidepools and surfing Pacific Beach breaks, while Alksne honed the craft alongside her dad and friends in the colder Santa Cruz waters. As current Ph.D. students at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, they realized they could transfer their hobby into a profession later on.

“I didn’t discover my passion for science until college,” said Alksne. “I always thought science was so hard and only smart people do science. I was like, ‘I’m a surfer, I don’t do that,’ until I went to community college and realized that I was capable of it. Once I realized I loved my general science classes, that’s when I realized that I could connect my love for surfing and the ocean with at least majoring in marine biology.”

Now long past their gen-ed days, the scientists conduct their Ph.D. studies in the same waters they surf. Alksne researches marine mammal bioacoustics, focusing on cetaceans. Cetaceans – classified as whales, dolphins, and porpoises – make sounds to communicate, navigate and forage. Alksne’s lab deploys underwater recording devices off the coast of San Diego to keep a continuous record of the mammals’ sounds.

“What I do is I do my best to interpret those sounds and understand what animals are making them and why; and how we can improve our understanding of the animals and their communication, distribution, and ecology, using the continuous record of the sounds they are making,” said Alksne.

Grayson focuses her research on the coral that resides on the ocean floor below her surfboard. Basing her thesis on the presence of plant chemistry in pharmaceutical practices, Grayson looks to local soft corals for potential new drugs.

“Think of a plant that can’t run away and all it has is leaves that are really tasty for a caterpillar – plants make really interesting chemistry to make things not want to eat it. A majority of things we use as drugs to treat cancer, as antibiotics, or for almost any disease, come from plants,” said Grayson.

“It’s us using the chemistry that plants use to defend themselves to help us defend ourselves. If you think about these soft corals, they also can’t run away and they don’t have a hard external skeleton that the reef corals do.”

Grayson sequences the DNA of the local soft corals to study their chemistry and explore potential defenses that can be replicated in pharmaceutical drugs, similar to the approach toward plants.

While Grayson and Alksne’s time spent in the lab is much different than their time on the board, science and surfing have bridged together to provide a deeper appreciation for both pursuits.

“It’s one thing for me to look for drugs and ways that these organisms can help us, but the questions that are really exciting to me are why these organisms are making these things for themselves. When I’m surfing I’m really able to get in touch with that,” said Grayson. “We both have been so privileged to grow up and understand how important the ocean is. Now as scientists, we are able to understand all the ways that it is helping us. The feedback between the two – knowing the ocean through so many different angles – just feeds off each other.”

What the two surfing scientists also share with one another is a desire to preserve the ocean and inspire future generations to pursue stem. Grayson hopes to continue to explore the pharmaceutical potential of local marine organisms, inspiring others through the angle of surfing.

Alksne aspires to take on the role of a stem educator, passing on her knowledge as her way of giving back.

“All of my life spent in and around the ocean is really what made me want to protect the ocean so much,” said Alksne. “I want future generations to experience the ocean the way I have experienced it. And I think through education and research, I am making a difference or at least trying to protect our oceans and educate people on protecting them.”