Researchers at the University of California, San Diego discovered that stingrays have the same enzymes used by “boneworms” to break down whale carcasses, and help promote photosynthesis in coral. However, this enzyme in stingrays is used to regulate their blood pH. This discovery is leading scientists to get a better understanding of enzyme’s function in human kidneys to regulate blood and urine function. To examine the enzyme more closely graduate student Jinae Roa isolated cells from stingray gills and exposed them to different pH conditions. Her and Martin Tresguerres discovered the more elevated and more alkaline, the proton pump activated by pushing the cells inner cytoplasm to the outer membrane, therefore, relieving it of excess acid.