Diving into the mechanisms of sponge-microbe-environment interaction
Inauguramos os Encontros Espresso do IIM-CSIC coa visita da investigadora do Institut de Ciències del Mar do CSIC en Barcelona. Lucía Pita falará da simbiose cun exemplo ben especial: as esponxas de mar, as bacterias e o seu medio natural.
(ligazón dispoñible no día da transmisión)
Os “Encontros Espresso" son un formato de charlas que se veñen realizando no IIM co obxectivo de coñecernos mellor entre nós,coñecer mellor a actividade que se realiza no noso centro e explorar o mundo da ciencia mariña, fomentando a discusión científico-técnica e reforzando vínculos entre grupos onde pode participar tanto o persoal investigador como técnico para compartir o seu traballo, experiencias e resultados.
Son eventos pensados especialmente para o noso persoal, pero todo o mundo está convidado a unirse a través da nosa emisión por streaming.
Este novo formato celebrarase mensualmente, ás 10:00 horas na Sala de Reunións do IIM-CSIC e acompañarémolos con café de cortesía ("Espresso") para favorecer o bo fluír da comunicación.
Diving into the mechanisms of sponge-microbe-environment-interactions
Lucía Pita Galán abre os Encontros Espresso de 2023 visitándonos dende Barcelona. Resume a súa charla do seguinte xeito:
"Symbiosis – “living together” – with microbes contributes to animal ecological success and is a source of evolutionary innovation. The animal host and its microbiota form a functional unit called the “holobiont”, which can be regarded as a miniature ecosystem of complex host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions that result in new functions. Marine Sponges beautifully illustrate the holobiont concept and its implications to understand animal physiology. Sponges appeared on our planet 600-800 million years ago and, with the help of their microbes, this group still persists today and has conquered (almost) all aquatic habitats.
In my talk, I will first introduce the microbial diversity harbored in sponges and how microbial metabolism occurring inside the sponge, coupled with the animal activity, scales up and influences nutrient cycling in the ecosystem. Then, I will focus on our work aiming at revealing the role of sponge immunity as guardian of sponge-microbe interactions. Finally, I will discuss how the holobiont concept has changed our perspective on how marine animals face the environmental stress caused by the climate crisis."
Lucía Pita Galán (ICM-CSIC)
Investigadora (bolsa Junior Group Leader La Caixa) do grupo de Biogeoquímica marina, atmósfera y clima no Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) de Barcelona.
"I am an independent scientist whose research aims at understanding the molecular mechanisms of animal-microbe-environment interactions and their influence in animal health, with particular attention to the immune system. Since 2021 I am funded by the competitive Junior Group leader fellowship by Fundación La Caixa at the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC, Spain). I study marine sponges, a paradigm of marine symbiosis due to their ancient origin, their complexity, and their role in the ecosystem. As one of the oldest -and still extant animal groups, sponges allow us to uncover the genomic toolkit for animals to interact with microbes in a changing environment. I did my PhD at University of Barcelona (Spain) and then moved to GEOMAR (Germany), first as a postdoc, thanks to the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, and since 2018 I developed there my own research line as a junior group leader."