[2] She is a team leader of the Tara Pacific expedition[3] and co-producer of the coral reef documentary Saving Atlantis.

[5] Vega Thurber started her research career as a developmental biologist studying apoptosis in early embryogenesis in the model invertebrate organism, the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.

In those early years, Vega Thurber adopted the use genomic and bioinformatic approaches to her research enabling metagenome and microbiome-based inferences.

Those collaborations led to the discovery of major roles microbial assemblages play in coral reef environments.

Her standing as a world expert in coral microbiology led her to be appointed as one of the lead scientists of the Tara Pacific Expedition.