On the ice: from the Veterinary School to the Southern Ocean
Jacob Reed, a PhD researcher in Veterinary Medicine and Science, swaps fruit flies for icefish on a life‑changing expedition to the Southern Ocean.
If you had told me three years ago that I would spend part of my PhD on an expedition to Antarctica, I would not have believed you. So how did I, a 24-year-old mitochondrial biologist researching age-related diseases, end up on a research vessel in the Southern Ocean?
It started back in early 2025, when I spent some time analysing data sets from Antarctic icefish alongside my main research – a project on fruit flies. This is when my interest sparked for these fascinating fish which don’t have red blood cells, making their blood and organs ghoulishly white. I became determined to see these fish in their natural habitat. I expressed this to my supervisor, Professor Lisa Chakrabarti, who had been on the cruises Polarstern, and we began planning how I could get a place on the next research vessel. Despite obvious obstacles, the process was really smooth. The Professional Internships for PhD Students (PIPS) Team helped me secure funding and curate an agreement between the university and Alfred Wegner Institute. This is a German research institute focused on polar research, with expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica over the past 40 years.
From desert heat to polar ice
Fast forward to December 2025, I embarked on a long flight to Windhoek in Namibia to join up with the rest of the researchers. I spent some time here getting to know everyone, swimming on the Namibian beach, trying the local delicacies (zebra), and exploring the desert. I look back now and realise I had yet to process how drastic the change would be from the sweltering desert climate of Namibia to the harsh frozen desert of Antarctica. After two quick days, it was time to pack up again and travel to the port and see the 118m long German flagship research vessel - Polarstern.
I learnt a lot about myself, that I can succeed in challenging environments; whether through the small wins of processing fish on down days, or big wins like adapting and using new techniques to answer novel research questions.
The WOBEC Expedition begins
This voyage was the PS152 Weddell Sea Observatory of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Change (WOBEC) expedition, where scientists planned to explore almost every metric of the Southern Ocean, from the mapping the ocean floor at 2800m, sediment sampling, fishing and much, much more. This area of Antarctica is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and the goal of PS152 was to understand how each aspect of this Southern Ocean ecosystem works and could be affected. My group was the ecophysiology team, led by Dr Felix Mark. As a biochemist, and new to the polar regions, Felix made everyone on the team feel welcome and included. By utilising multiple fishing methods from longlining on the deck at –2°C in five metre waves, to casting pelagic nets, we caught and analysed over 800 fish for molecular and ecological methods.
A placement is a great tool to try new things, meet new people and challenge the ways you look at research within your own lab. Sometimes a placement can be dubbed as a nice time to have a break from the struggles of becoming a scholar, but this experience showed me it can be that and much more…
Christmas at sea
During this 7-week expedition, we were out at sea for both Christmas and New Year. So, my Christmas morning looked a little different this year. Instead of unwrapping presents (which in the German tradition occurs on Christmas eve) we spent the morning unwrapping pounds of frozen squid to be baited on the hooks of the longlines. This smelly “baiting party” occurred several times throughout the voyage, but all was rewarded when we reeled our nets and fish traps back up. We caught a wide range of fish species in Antarctica, from tiny to huge icefish, snailfish, eelpouts and we finally saw the top fish predator of the Southern Ocean: the Antarctic toothfish.
Beyond the baiting parties, a typical day in the lab included subsampling over 45 pieces of fish tissue for molecular analysis for labs all around the world. I would personally use red and white muscle, liver and heart to analyse the mitochondria of the icefish. We’d then have our daily fish meeting which would bring the team together to discuss the work that still needs to be done, and if there were any impending weather delays or social events coming up. We would then process another fish later that afternoon, before a larger scientific team meeting was held and run by our chief scientist, Dr Heike Link.
Afterwards, relaxation on the boat looked a little different from land. We’d play rounds of ‘PS152 exclusive’ guess who, play basketball in the pool, or even hit up the sauna after a long day out in the cold.
In the middle of our voyage, we were able to visit the German Neumayer Station III on the Ekstroem Ice Shelf in the Northeast Weddell Sea. This was a surreal experience; being able to step foot on the continent of Antarctica after seeing it only through a camera lens or binoculars before. The research station was similarly equipped as the Polarstern, from labs and recreational rooms to hospitals and a full kitchen. It was fun exploring what life on land looked like after a few weeks at sea but solidified my desire to remain on the sea for my research - likely due to my maritime heritage from Hull.
Finding my place in Antarctica
From this experience, I deepened my understanding of polar research, spending hours in the infamous “Red Saloon” conversing about the struggles and gaps in Antarctic Research questions. I originally felt quite out of place, due to my research experience, in which field work is almost unheard of - disease models for human diseases are well established and there isn’t a golden land for genetically modified fruit flies (although Bloomington Drosophila Stock Centre would beg to differ).
Albeit a vastly different field from my usual research, I dove headfirst into learning and understanding. This challenge quickly became my superpower, and I got the Antarctica 0-100 within one week and it felt refreshing to look at science from a different viewpoint; making my transition back to my lab life feel more energising.
A "once-in-a-lifetime" experience
Overall, this experience was truly once in a lifetime. From the scientists that soon felt like family to the marvellous icefish living deep within the Southern Ocean. This was an eye-opening experience for me and seeing how interdisciplinary research can answer so many of the world’s questions. Almost every aspect of this experience will transcend beyond my PhD, opening my eyes to the importance of collaborations, understanding self-worth, to the smaller things which makes research seem more fun and less daunting. The data and research that came from this expedition will hopefully lead to future conservation work in the region and serves as a reminder that what happens in Antarctica, does not stay in Antarctica.