Seminar Series – 19 May

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SymbNET Online Seminar Series

Monthly seminars on host-microbe symbiosis, genomics, and metabolomics, with two talks from SymbNET researchers.

The seminars are open and free to all, but registration is required.

Please register once for the entire seminar series.

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15:00 WEST / 16:00 CEST  

Speaker: Jan van der Meer

Affiliation: Environmental and Evolutionary Microbiology Lab, University of Lausanne (UNIL), Switzerland.

Title: Culturing and managing complex soil microbiomes.

Abstract: Soils harbour among the most species-complex known microbial communities, which are thought to be key for plant health and ecosystem services like element cycling, carbon storage, or water purification. How soil communities form or how their equilibria maintain is largely unknown. In order to better understand intricacies of soil community growth, we focus on developing methodologies to reproducibly culture communities, measure interspecific interactions and provide management strategies to introduce specific metabolic functionalities.

 

15:30 WEST / 16:30 CEST  

Speaker: Tina Keller Costa

Affiliation: Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Portugal

Title: The Microbiome of Octocorals: Community structure, Function, and possible Metabolic Interactions

Abstract: Octocorals (Octocorallia, Cnidaria) are an integral part of benthic marine ecosystems. They increase habitat complexity and biodiversity and play key roles in coastal food chains, helping to regulate primary and secondary production. They are found in association with various microorganisms, including micro-eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and viruses. However, the role of their microbial symbionts is still poorly understood. In this talk, I will present our research on the microbiomes of temperate octocoral species using cultivation-dependent and -independent, metagenomics approaches. I will identify functional features that collectively may contribute to the stabilization of symbiosis, and that suggest niche partitioning and metabolic specialization among symbionts which could contribute to the plasticity and adaptability of the octocoral holobiont in changing marine environments.

 

SymbNET Seminars