Patricia Sánchez-Baracaldo, PhD (UC Berkeley, USA), Professor and Royal Society University Research Fellow, Principal Investigator
I am a Professor in Phylogenomics and Microbiology and a Royal Society University Research Fellow. I am studying the evolutionary history of cyanobacteria with the aim to understand how evolutionary processes have contributed to global nutrient cycles such as carbon (climate change) and nitrogen (nitrogen fixation) through geological time. Cyanobacteria were the first organisms to produce oxygen transforming the Earth’s atmosphere. My work suggests that evolutionary innovations in cyanobacteria have played a role in regulating the global environment and past climatic event. I am also interested in studying cyanobacteria from cold-extreme environments and symbiotic relationships in marine environments.
I obtained my biology degree from Los Andes University, Colombia. After I finished my undergraduate degree I was awarded a fellowship to work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. I did my PhD in plant evolutionary biology in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. As a postdoctoral research, I work on the molecular ecology of cyanobacteria at Bristol University. I had a career break to look after her young family and returned back to science with a Daphne Jackson and a Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society fellowship in 2011.
I care about promoting equality, inclusion, fairness, and diversity. I am currently a member of the Rosalind Franklin Committee at The Royal Society. I was a member if the Diversity Committee (2018-2021), and I am the chair of the Diversity and Equality in the School of Geographical Sciences (2018-2021). I am also a Fellow of the Linnean Society.
Links to my Royal Society profile and Bristol webpage
Dr Giorgio Bianchini, Postdoc
I am currently a Research Associate at the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol, working on a project that looks at the evolution of cold adapted Cyanobacteria. I am generally interested in the development of computational methods for phylogenetic studies; during my PhD (also at the University of Bristol), I have applied some of these methodologies to better understand the origin of photosynthesis and salt tolerance in Cyanobacteria. The software I developed during my PhD include sMap (a program to study trait evolution using stochastic mapping) and TreeViewer (a new program to draw and analyse phylogenetic trees).
I obtained my BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Pisa (Italy) with a dissertation on convergent evolution in three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations. I completed my MSc project on Conservation and Evolution at the same university. I studied the applicability of miRNA cluster sequences as phylogenetic markers (using simulated sequences and real data from mammals and cyprinodontiform fishes). I also developed a computational method to choose the best markers to implement in phylogenetic analyses. During both my Master’s and Bachelor’s I was an Allievo Ordinario of the Scuola Normale Superiore, a leading institution in the Italian research system.
For more information, you can access my personal website from https://giorgiobianchini.com/.
Dr Elliot Druce
I am a NERC FRESH GW4 PhD student at the University of Bristol. My project is part of the Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment (BRIDGE) and Hydrology groups. I am working on using genomic approaches to investigate how nitrogen from human pollution (fertilisers, waste water treatment) impacts phytoplankton populations in freshwater ecosystems, and to examine how these phytoplankton species incorporate this excess nitrogen into their metabolic pathways. I completed my BSc Hons in Biochemistry and Genetics at the University of Nottingham before undergoing a research Masters at Imperial College London. During this, I worked on the recovery of cell motility in an immotile mutant, cyanobacterial metabolic pathways focusing on carbon partitioning, and the molecular dynamics of transcription factor activation domains.
Zoonii Kayler, PhD Student
Zoonii completed her BSc in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at King’s College London. Here she was introduced to computational biology’s application to modeling gene regulatory networks. This niche led her to pursue an MSc in Bioinformatics at Queen Mary’s University. During this time she worked on an alignment tool for genomic data at the Blizard Institute.
She is now working towards a PhD in the Sanchez-Baracaldo lab at Bristol and excited to combine her past in genomics with evolutionary biology and geochemistry. Outside of academia, Zoonii enjoys bouldering, acrobatics, dance, rugby, and anything outdoors.
Paulina Cifuentes Uribe, PhD Student
I’m a PhD student in the School of Geographical Sciences at Bristol University. I am funded by ‘BECAS CHILE’, a studentship from the Chilean government. I studied Biochemistry (BSc) and Microbiology (MSc) at the University of Concepción in Chile. During my masters I studied photo-repair mechanisms of DNA in psychrotolerant bacteria isolated from Patagonia and Antarctica. I am now fascinated about what bacteria can do, and the huge potential for new discovers from underexplores places like Patagonia.
My research interests are soil bacteria, early evolution of land plant/cyanobacteria symbiosis, and the cryosphere’s microbiome. My PhD project uses genomic approaches to study cyanobacterial symbiotic relationships found in a ~40 years retreating glacier and the forefields found in Torres del Paine, National Park, Chile. Cyanobacteria can stablish symbiosis with a highly diverse taxonomic hosts in aquatic (diatoms, corals and sponges) and terrestrial (land plants, fungi) environments.
We hope to find interesting symbiotic relationships in one of the most pristine places on Earth. Little is known about how these relationships contribute to the development soils during the colonization of soils after glacier retreat.
Lingyun Yang, PhD Student
I am a PhD student at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, with funding coming from a Chinese Government Scholarship. I have a keen interest in the evolution and genomics of Cyanobacteria, and for my PhD I am working on genome evolution, with an emphasis on symbiotic cyanobacteria and the development of new bioinformatic pipelines.
I completed my MSc in Bioinformatics at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol. During my MSc studies, I completed the transcriptome analysis of Trypanosoma congolense and, in addition, I performed a genome-wide analysis of the rat hippocampal region implementing bioinformatic techniques. I completed my BSc in Animal Science and minored in Economics at China Agricultural University. As an undergraduate, I mainly worked on the reproduction and genetics of animals.
Madeleine Lewis, PhD Student
Maddy has an MSc in BioInspired Innovation from Utrecht University (The Netherlands), and is currently working on her PhD as part of the MicroLab research group at Bristol in collaboration with the Ice Core group at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Her research is upon fine-scale spatial distribution of microbes in snow and ice, and how they interact and influence their microhabitats.
Amy Oakeshot, Master’s Student
I did my undergraduate in the School of Geographical Sciences at Bristol University, and I have now started a MSc by Research student (Cabot Institute, Bristol). During my undergraduate dissertation I studied the influence of salinity on the growth and photosynthesis of Chlamydomonas pulsatilla.
My key areas of interest involve how cyanobacteria respond to changes in environmental conditions and climate change. Recent studies have shown that cyanobacteria produce methane. As methane is a prominent greenhouse gas, my project will examine cyanobacteria rates of methane production under different environmental stressors as well as the potential molecular processes involved. Research will be predominantly laboratory-based to measure methane production and perform genetic analyses.
PAST MEMBERS
Dr Joanne S. Boden, PhD Student
I am a graduate teaching assistant and PhD student based in the school of geographical sciences at the University of Bristol. I am part of the Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment (BRIDGE) and am interested in how cyanobacteria evolve and diversify in the ocean. My current project is using molecular clocks and geological records of trace metal availability to understand how phytoplankton protect themselves against oxidative stress. My first degree was a BSc in Biological Sciences with Study Abroad from the University of Exeter. I explored how future ocean acidification is likely to affect lugworm (Arenicola marina) and was lucky enough to spend some time at Colorado State University in the USA. Shortly after I graduated, I worked on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions with Rothamsted Research before completing an MSc in Climate Change Science and Policy at the University of Bristol. This was a taught degree with a research project where I utilised a Bayesian molecular clock to investigate how Snowball glaciations affected the evolution of cyanobacteria which live in cold polar and alpine climates.
Cassie Hopton, Master student
I am a MSc by research student working within the Geographical Sciences department at the University of Bristol as part of the Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment (BRIDGE). My research interests include evolution and adaption mechanisms of extremophiles, and the applications this can have in astrobiology such as how life may appear or adapt to extreme environmental conditions on other planets. My project will use computational approaches to analyse genetic data for Cyanobacteria, and determine when and how certain genetic traits arose that facilitate Cyanobacteria survival in cold, arid or high UV-exposed environments, for example. My background is in biochemistry gained from a BSc Hons in Biochemistry at the University of Bristol. My thesis explored whether a previously uncharacterised mRNA nonsense-mediated decay protein could bind mRNA directly. I also completed two research-based internships throughout my degree, which involved examining the structure of yeast mitochondrial import machinery by transmission electron microscopy and using atomistic molecular dynamic simulations to investigate changes in reactive oxygen species permeation through membranes with varying lipid compositions.
Dr Nicolas Schmelling
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. With an EMBO fellowship I am joining Patricia’s group to explore the diversity and evolution of cellulose synthesis and export in cyanobacteria. I studied biology at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Michigan State University working on different projects with Arabidopsis thaliana, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and cyanobacteria. Originally trained as a biologist I switched to computational biology at the end of my undergrad degree. During my PhD I studied the diversity and evolution of the circadian clock in cyanobacteria and other prokaryotes using comparative genomic methods. I’m a strong believer in cooperation and open science. I think that building a closer and more open research community is the best way to lower the barrier of access to the research network and resources. Furthermore, it will help to make efficient use of those scarce resources, which helps to advance research at a much faster pace without unnecessary duplication of work. Thus, I’m currently working for a start on different projects to grow a more connected cyanobacterial research community like an online seminar series, a YouTube Channel, conferences and summer schools, and Twitter account for news and recent publications in the field. In the future, I want to build more tools and databases that aggregate and summarise existing knowledge in one place and allows anyone to get better insider knowledge for their personal research project.
Dr Chris Bellas, Postdoctoral Research Associate
I studied Oceanography at the University of Southampton (BSc) and Marine Science at Plymouth University (MSc) before working for the Environment Agency of the UK for several years as a Marine Scientist. I returned to academia to carry out a PhD at the University of Bristol, where I used in-situ measurements and molecular methods to uncover the diversity and dynamics of viruses in glacial ecosystems. My postdoc at the University of Bristol was on the metagenomics of virus communities, reconstructing novel virus genomes from environmental samples to look at their functional potential. I also used the microcosm-like nature of cryoconite holes to study virus evolution via metagenomics. In 2017 I moved to the University of Innsbruck as a Lise Meitner Fellow to investigate virus diversity and novel virus groups present in alpine lakes. I used microbial and viral metagenomes to uncover large groups of Polinton-like viruses and show for the first time that small eukaryotic viruses are abundant members of aquatic communities.
My research interests are in the role of viruses in aquatic ecosystems, specifically virus diversity, genomics and identifying their hosts in polar and alpine environments. I use metagenomics to sequence the collective microbial genomes in an environment and computational methods to reconstruct and link virus genomes to host organisms. I also use isolated environments found in glacial regions to understand virus-host evolutionary processes via comparative metagenomics. My current research involves generating metagenomes from the microbial communities present in sea ice. I am creating metagenomic genome bins of prokaryotes and linking these to functional genes present in the community to understand if bacteria can enhance nutrient cycling for sea ice algae. I will also be carrying out taxonomic profiling of eukaryotic communities in sea ice to understand the diversity of algae in these ecosystems.
Dr Thomas Turpin-Jelfs, Postdoctoral Research Associate
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences. My research explores how environmental changes driven by shifting climate and land-use dynamics modulate biogeochemical cycles and microbial productivity within the environment. Currently, I am interested in the photophysiological responses of sea ice algae to changing environmental conditions.
I obtained a bachelor’s degree in the environmental sciences from the University of the West of England and a research master’s degree concerning the impacts of forest disturbances on carbon sequestration from University College Dublin. Subsequently, I gained a PhD from the University of Bristol, for which I investigated the effects of environmental changes on the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in emerging and degrading water-limited ecosystems.
Dr Catherine E. Bayliss, PhD student
I’m a PhD student funded by a NERC GW4+ studentship at the University of Bristol, Geography department. My current research is into dissolved organic matter use by riverine microalgae, through species isolation and experimental work. My research interests are based around nutrient stoichiometry, algal physiology and environmental impacts of changing nutrients in freshwater ecosystems. I’m curious about how less well studied nutrient forms (such as dissolved organic matter fractions) impact primary producers and their effects on elemental ratios present at the base of the food web. My background is in algae biotechnology and physiology from a Masters by Research (Swansea University, UK) in Aquatic Biology investigating carbon storage by freshwater microalgae and a BSc (Hons) in Biology (Swansea University, UK) where my dissertation looked at modelling lipid carbon storage by microalgae for biofuel purposes. Prior to starting my PhD, I worked as a technician within a microalgae research group culturing and analysing microalgae (e.g. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.04.042), alongside working with the Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture Research (CSAR) culturing microalgae in large scale (c.a. 600L) and performing water quality analysis (e.g. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-017-1066-x).
Dr. Karley Campbell, Postdoctoral Research Associate
I’m a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Bristol and Co-I of the Changing Arctic Ocean (CAO) Diatom-ARCTIC program. I hold a B.Sc. in environmental science (University of Lethbridge, CA), and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Geography (University of Manitoba, CA) with focuses on biological oceanography, sea ice biogeochemistry, and phycology. My multidisciplinary research investigates the biophysical responses of microbes living in sea ice to environmental change, including the anticipated impact of climate warming on the prevalent sea ice diatoms. Through metagenomic analysis in the Sanchez-Baracaldo laboratory I’m working to characterize the genetic diversity of microbial communities in sea ice habitats of the Arctic.
Dr Maisie V. Nash, PhD Student
I am a NERC GW4+ PhD student, based at the University of Bristol Glaciology centre. My current research uses next generation metagenomic sequencing to understand microbial life in extreme environments.
My most recent publication (Nash et al., 2018; FEMS Microbiology Ecology) uses metagenomics to understand the diversity of microbial nitrogen fixation in polar soils. Work following this investigates the nitrogen cycle during soil succession in Arctic Glacier forefields. Following a field work campaign in Chilean Patagonia (February 2017) my current work is looking at the microbial life in benthic fjord sediments. I am investigating the microbial community composition using metagenomics and using genome binning techniques to explore novel organisms in this largely unexplored oligotrophic habitat.
Dr Nathan A. M. Chrismas carried out his Phd and one Postdoc (2013-2017).
I was a NERC PhD student at the University of Bristol. I’m particularly interested in the genomic mechanisms that allow microorganisms to survive in extreme environments and how these mechanisms might contribute to processes of adaptation and speciation. Currently, I work primarily on cyanobacteria from cold environments such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica and the Greenland ice sheet.My first degree was in Ecology and Environmental biology at the University of Leeds where I worked on population genetics in the intertidal snail Littorina saxatilis. I completed an MRes in Ocean Sciences at the University of Southampton on the proteomic response of Trichodesmium erythraeum to iron limitation before starting my PhD at Bristol.
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