BIOCOBRE project: PhD fellowship
We are looking for a candidate interested in applying for the call for pre-doctoral contracts for research personnel in training of the Junta de Andalucía, to carry out the doctoral thesis at the University of Cadiz in the framework of the project “Bioprecipitation of metallic copper from acid mine drainage in the Iberian Pyritic Belt” BIOCOBRE, funded by the Junta de Andalucía.
The aim of the project is to study precipitates of copper salts and oxides in environments contaminated by acid mine drainage (AMD). The biogeochemical conditions, the microbial community and the metabolic pathways involved in the precipitation of copper nanoparticles in biofilm growing in areas of acid mine drainage (AMD) in the Iberian Pyritic Belt (Huelva) will be investigated.
To understand the process we will 1) define the geochemical environment within the biofilm and measure copper precipitation rates under different conditions, 2) describe the evolution of the biofilm microbial community from colonisation to maturity, 3) isolate and culture the biofilm microorganisms potentially involved in the copper precipitation process. To achieve these objectives, we will use a multidisciplinary approach combining state-of-the-art techniques from different scientific disciplines: microsensors (O2, H2S, pH and Eh), geochemical and mineralogical methods, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), omics tools (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics, metabolomics) and multispecific and axenic microbial cultures.
Requirements
- Degree in Biological Sciences, Biotechnology or similar with at least 240 credits.
- Average grade of the academic transcript higher than 8.0 out of 10.
In addition, the candidate must be highly motivated to carry out a doctoral thesis and be willing to train as a researcher in the microbiology of systems impacted by acid mine drainage, and have basic knowledge of cultures/reactors, omics tools or biogeochemistry. Good oral and written communication skills in English would also be an asset.
If successful, the PhD student will join the Ecology Area of the Department of Biology of the University of Cadiz and specifically the Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry group (microbentos.uca.es).
Contact: Those interested should send their CV (with academic transcript) and motivation letter to Alfonso Corzo (alfonso.corzo@uca.es) before 24 June 2021.
The call (in Spanish) can be found here:
PhD fellowship call
We are looking for candidates interested in applying for the call for pre-doctoral contracts for research personnel in training of the Junta de Andalucía, to carry out the doctoral thesis at the University of Cadiz in one of our current and future projects
Currently we have one active project and three accepted expected to start this year.
For more information on the projects check the individual ads.
Contact: Those interested to apply for this public call should send their CV (with academic transcript) and motivation letter to Alfonso Corzo (alfonso.corzo@uca.es) before 24 June 2021.
The call (in Spanish) can be found here:
More openings in our projects are expected to be offered at a later date this year.
CEIMar Young researcher’s projects
Two of our former members (with which we still collaborate on ongoing projects and publications) have been granted projects within the CEIMar.
Julio Bohórquez Ferrando will study the effects of organic exudates from polyunsaturated aldehyde (PUA) producing and non-producing diatoms on the composition and abundance of the bacterial community.
PUAs are phytoplankton-derived metabolites play an important role in chemically mediated plankton interactions, both.
Sara Haro Páez’s project is titled “Contribution of the marshes of the Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park to blue carbon sequestration comparing natural marsh versus a restored marsh”. Sara is currently working on the project AQUA&AMBI and will use the experience of our group ( pub1, pub2) to determine the importance of salt marsh management in the sequestration of carbon. “Blue carbon” ecosystems such as tidal marshes, mangrove forests, seagrass meadows have been affected severely in the last decades by human activities, mainly in the form of change of land use. The role of blue carbon ecosystems in mitigating climate change has been long recognised. Therefore, protecting and rehabilitating these ecosystems is very important. This study will evaluate the benefits of increased carbon storage gains comparing a rehabilitated versus a natural tidal marsh sites.
Another doctor in the group
Sara Soria just defended her PhD. Sara has worked hard in the last years studying in very different environments how communities are affected by environmental variables across ecological gradients, i.e. progressive changes of biotic and abiotic characteristics in space or time within an ecosystem.
Many ecosystems present remarkable environmental gradients in which the interactions between the microbial communities and the effect these strong abiotic gradients have on them are poorly known. Without this information it is difficult to predict how the structure of microbial community, its functionality and in a greater extent the ecosystem itself, might respond to future environmental changes.
Sara used several techniques including chemical analyses, flow cytometry, labelled carbon experiments and biogeochemical modelling to measure primary production rates, size fractionated plankton distribution, and carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycling.
The thesis was supervised by Alfonso Corzo and Sokratis Papaspyrou and was defended in front of internationally renown scientists such as Josep (Pep) Gasol Piqué, Fidel Echevarria Navas and Xosé Anxelu Gutiérrez Morán.
Sara has already published two articles (both in Limnology & Oceanography) and more are on the way. We will keep you posted.
We wish her all the best for the future!
CEIMAR Young researcher’s project (2019 call)
One of our post doc members, who is associated to the project MICROBAHIA and MICROBAHIA 2, as well as an active researcher, Dr. Miguel Lara, has been successful in obtaining financial support by the CEIMAR foundation.
Miguel Lara’s project is titled “Oxygen dynamics in phototrophic intertidal sediments. Stoichiometry of proton fluxes and effects of porewater drainage”. The main goal of his proposal is to clarify the influence of tidal state in the short term response of oxygen and pH gradients, both due to microphytobenthic activity and diffusive fluxes. For such objective, our laboratory benefits from a fully developed equipment of microsensors and an additional budget of 4000 €.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic disease (COVID-19), CEIMAR foundation extended the end date of the project along 2021.
More info can be found here:
https://www.researchgate.net/project/CEIMAR-Program-for-young-leading-researchers-2019
MEBL in the meeting of the European Geoscience Union (Vienna, Austria)
April 2018
As it has been customary year after year, the capital of Austria hosted one of the most important events for Earth’s scientists of many areas (Biogeochemistry, Geophysics, Oceanography, etc…).
During almost a week, up to 4.776 talks and 11.128 posters were presented place in this spectacular, useful and rigorous conference. Of course, our laboratory could not miss the chance to update and share the most recent insights with other colleagues.
Three members of our research team, Prof. Alfonso Corzo, Dr. Miguel Lara and the PhD student Sara Haro flew to Vienna to attend the EGU 2018 General Assembly from the 8-13 April 2018. Presentations covered several aspects of the response of microphytobenthos to light and tidal conditions: Potential changes in the photosynthetic efficiency, the transitional effects of sediment desiccation and an innovative model of self-shading were the three topics exposed.
More info and a downloadable version of the abstracts are linked here:
Effects of sediment desiccation (Oral presentation)
Noche de los investigadores 2017
Once more we were happy to join the rest of our colleagues from the University of Cádiz on an activity organised by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of our university within the framework of the European Researcher’s Night. This time we set up camp in the old town of Cadiz with all our gear. Microphytobenthos and oxygen microsensors, Winogradsky columns, fiddler crabs, Nereis worms, and our own hand-made bacteria. We also had lots of plasticine for the kids to create their own bacteria in Petri dishes and pencils for them to draw our “Secret life in the sediment drawing”. Until next time.
Our plasticine microphytobenthos Petri dish… (microorganisms not in scale obviously!)
Sokratis explains the content of our workshop in this promotional video (in Spanish)
Sara in Denmark
September 2017
Sara Haro has stayed for 3 months in the Marine Biology Laboratory in Helsingør (University of Copenhagen), within the research group Microenviromental Ecology lead by Prof. Michael Kuhl. Sara has received training in both microsensor (oxygen and temperature) and microprobes (irradiance scalar and reflectance) measurements. She has carried out experiments to determine the importance of radiative energy budgets in microbial mats under different levels of irradiance and tidal conditions. Results are expected soon!
Oxygen measurements with a microsensor on a microbial mat.
Three new PhD’s
July was a busy month. Three PhD students from our lab defended their theses. Julio, Eddy and JuanLu defended their theses working on different subjects of aquatic biogeochemistry. We wish them all the best for their future endeavours.
The three new doctors of our lab (from left: Julio, JuanLu and Eddy)
EPS and diatoms
The last research paper on bacteria degrading extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced by microalgae, published recently in Frontiers in Microbiology by our group in collaboration with researchers from the University of Essex, has attracted the attention of the media. In a small report, our PhD student Julio Bohórquez explains (in spanish) what the more relevant findings of this study are.
