Molecular Ecology and Environmental Genomics of Marine Phytoplankton
Friday Harbor Laboratories (Summer 2012)
July 23 - August 24, 2012 (5 weeks)
Dr. Robin Kodner
Lead Faculty
Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School
Seattle, WA 98115
Dr. Adrian Marchetti
Assistant Professor
Department of Marine Sciences
3202 Venable Hall, CB# 3300
University of North Carolina
Phytoplankton are the most genetically diverse group of organisms in the marine environment, and play a central role in coastal and open ocean ecosystems as primary producers. Equally important, these organisms play a fundamental role in the global carbon cycle. Because of these important roles, phytoplankton are crucial to understand changing oceans and ecosystems. In recent years a combination of molecular techniques and genomics has increased our ability to quantitatively describe the composition of phytoplankton communities and the functional interactions between phytoplankton and their environment. This course will provide an integrated foundation to understanding phytoplankton diversity, ecology, physiology, and biogeochemistry that will cover a range of traditional lab and field methods to the most modern high throughput sequencing technologies. An emphasis will be placed on integrating methods for application in the lab and the field.
This course will describe the broad diversity of phytoplankton groups from an evolutionary perspective and will explore various molecular and genomic-based tools for studying the diversity and physiology of these dynamic groups. Students will leave the course having explored the genome papers of all major phytoplankton groups, learned the history of molecular techniques in this field, and become familiar with bioinformatics techniques for comparative genomics and environmental genomics (metagenomics). From the bioinformatics and comparative genomics methods, the students will learn to form hypothesis in silico from existing sequence data, and then test these hypotheses in the lab or in the field using a mixture of methods presented though the course. The molecular and bioinformatics methods presented in the course are now necessary tools for all graduate students in biological oceanography and phycology, and this introduction will give students a practical introduction that will be applicable to their own projects. Students will then learn how to apply molecular tools such that they can bridge these techniques with physiological experimentation and ecological observations.
Enrollment will be limited to 15 students.
More information can be found here.
Posted: January 20, 2011
Phylomedicine Symposium
Sponsored by the Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution (SMBE)
23-24 March 2012
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
Arizona State University is hosting a Phylomedicine Symposium March 23-24, 2012 in Tempe, Arizona, USA. This symposium is sponsored by the Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution (SMBE) to bring together researchers at the intersection of Molecular Evolution and Genomic Medicine (Phylomedicine). More information can be found here. Please register as soon as possible (early bird deadline is January 5th, 2012).
Travel grants are available [$500 US; $1,000 international] for postdocs, students, and early career scientists. Travel grant recipients are required to present a poster at the poster session on Friday night, March 23, 2012. To apply, provide a title and write a 200 word abstract. Include the name of your mentor, your contact information, and your CV along with the abstract in an email here by January 5th, 2012. Please also complete the registration form.
Posted: December 14, 2011
9th International Worshop GAP, Málga (Spain)
Study of primary productivity by nitrogen pulsed-supply in phytoplankton and marine macrophytes: experimental approach (Flyer)
16-26 September, 2012
University of Málaga (UMA)
Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO)
Experimental Center "Grice-Hutchinson"
ACCOMODATION: Málaga and Fuengirola
COORDINATORS: Félix L. Figueroa (UMA) and Jesús Mercado (IEO)
The 9th GAP Málaga-2012 is a theoretical-practical workshop organized by the Group of aquatic main objective was to constitute a specific group to promote the advances of the research on Aquatic Primary production mainly through the organization of practical workshops. From 1980, it has been organized 8 workshops in different countries (to have more information of the previous meetings please consult the web page). As example, the last workshop entitled "Gross and net primary production:closing the gap between concepts and measurements" was conducted on April 2008 in the Red Sea (Eilat, Israel) including working groups on microalgae (oceanography in coastal waters, algal biotechnology and algae in high salinity lakes), macroalgae (both in the Red sea and in aquaculture facilities i.e. biofiltration of fishpond effluents), corals and marine angiosperms. The chairpersons of this workshop were Ilana Berman-Frank and Zvi Dubinsky.
The 9th GAP Málaga-2012 is centered in the study of the interactive effects of solar UVR and
nutrients, under experimental approach, on primary production of microalgae, seaweeds, marine angiosperms and freshwater plants submitted to different nutrient regime i.e nitrate. It is known
that primary productivity in ocean's surface greatly depends on the availability of macro-nutrients
which are usually present at low concentrations in comparison to other less limiting resources
such as light. Consequently, phytoplankton growth is coupled to hydrological processes and
climatic forcing favoring the nutrient-enrichment of the surface layer. Thus, in oligotrophic waters
microscale or submesoscale changes in nutrient inputs are related with internal waves fuelled by
wind pulses or tidal events. The enhancement of biological productivity in some shelf-break
regions has been attributed to internal tide mixing, which indices upward transport nutrient-rich
cool water. This process not only affects the pelagic system but may also influence benthic
communities. The previous acclimation is considered of importance since the time period of one
week during the workshop is not enough for physiological processes. These acclimated algae can
be studied by the application of short-term treatments during the workshop. The nitrate
incorporation can be determined. To evaluate photosynthetic activity different techniques will be
used as in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence, O2 evolution (optodes) or C13 assimilation. In addition
the quality of biomass will be evaluated as lipid-prtein content, carotenoids , UV screen
photoprotectors as mycosporine like aminoacids and phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity
In the out-door UMA-IEO facilities and equipments plus the instrumentation of the different
participants , short-term treatments during GAP Málaga-2012 based on the following variables
could be conducted:
(1) CO2 and acidification
(2) Nutrients (nitrate)
(3) Solar UV treatment (by using cut-off filters)
(4) Temperature
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Félix L. Figueroa or Jesús Mercado
Posted: November 4, 2011
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