The E3 Lab was started in 2019 when Ellie Laetz accepted a postdoctoral position at the University of Groningen and began working with Master's students on various projects related to solar-powered sea slug physiology. The lab has grown in the past few years, adopting an integrative approach to examine the evolution, ecology and physiology of a) kleptoplasty- the ability to steal and retain functional chloroplasts and b) photosymbiosis- a particular type of symbiosis that occurs between certain animal species and photosynthetic algae. E3 researchers currently examine a multitude of different solar-powered animals from sea slugs to upside-down jellyfish, sea anemones, and more, to unravel fundamental aspects of the algae-animal symbiosis, explore the tradeoffs associated with symbiosis and predict how these organisms will cope with the warmer, more acidified and deoxygenated oceans of the future.