An NVC Student, Cave Diver and Centipedes – A Story of Science

Just this past summer, Northwest Vista College student Max Sahi participated in the CIMA-LSAMP Summer Research Program, an Alamo Colleges STEM program. Now, he and a cave diver are on the road, bringing light to his research to squash what was thought to be a new animal species swimming in the underwater caves of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. His research found that the centipede-looking animal is still the same species that was discovered over four decades ago.  

While Max and his team’s research takes a lot of explaining for the layperson, his findings gave him a top spot at the Southwestern Association of Naturalists International Conference recently held in San Antonio. This is an event where many graduate students and scientists present their research. Students like Max often will do poster presentations at these conferences, but Max made an in-person presentation –  like he’s been doing this for years. His presentation was titled “Remipedes: A Story of Cenotes, Pseudogenes, and The Species that Never Existed.”

First, a little terminology: According to Berkley University, a remipede is an “animal which looks a little like a white, eyeless centipede.” It’s closely related to crabs and shrimp and has a deep history. The university said that one fossil remipede discovered in Texas probably lived more than 290 million years ago.

Cenotes are fresh-water chambers in caves. To learn about the species, cave diver, Dr. Fernando Calderon Gutierrez, has to brave the dark, cold caves to extract it. Pseudogenes have long been labeled as “junk” DNA or failed copies of genes that arise during the evolution of genomes (complete sets of DNA). However, recent results are challenging this moniker; indeed, some pseudogenes appear to harbor the potential to regulate their protein-coding cousins (according to the National Institute of Health).

While remipedes were first discovered in 1981, it was thought the species may have separated and formed a new species due to land mass changes and the environment (being so close to mainland Mexico). Thanks to Max and his team, which includes TAMUSA mentors Dr. Elizabeth Borda and Ashley Teufel and cave diver and marine biologist Dr. Fernando Calderon Gutierrez, they were able to take research that was published in 2017 in the European Journal of Taxonomy to a new level. DNA research has gotten a boost from recent tools that help to decode and decipher it better. Max was able to use these newer tools to meticulously identify the species. 

Even though Max is now continuing his research as a student at Texas A&M San Antonio, the research opportunity he received at NVC is due to CIMA or Ciencia, Ingeniería, y Matemáticas Aliados (CIMA), which was formed in the fall of 2013 when St. Philip’s College was awarded a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Baccalaureate (B2B) Program grant funded by the National Science Foundation. CIMA is comprised of five of the Alamo Colleges, including NVC. Its mission is to significantly increase the number of underrepresented students who attain bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Applications are now being accepted through February 2024 for the CIMA-LSAMP Summer 2024 Research Program. For more information, email Yvette at ([email protected]).