We speak with Dr. Reuben Shipway, a Research (Centre for Enzyme Innovation) and Teaching Fellow (Marine Biology) at the University of Portsmouth, and Adjunct Assistant Research Professor (Microbiology Department) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA. His research focuses on biodegradation and symbiosis in an economically and ecologically important group of marine invertebrates known commonly as ‘wood-borers’. We as him how these creatures "get it on."