Former Fellows (Page 2)

My name is Maëlle Zonnequin and I’m a second-year PhD student at the Laboratory of Integrative Biology of Marine Models (LBI2M) at the Station Biologique de Roscoff. I’m particularly interested in understanding how brown algae interact with other organisms in the marine ecosystem.Throughout evolution, biotic interactions have probably played a key role in the metabolic plasticity and adaptation of species. In my thesis, I am focusing on the function and evolutionary origin of the oxylipin pathway in biotic interactions in brown algae. More specifically, I am testing the hypothesis of functional coevolution between two closely related brown algae: a host belonging to the family LaminarialesRead More →

My name is Wendy Diruit and I’m a 3rd year PhD student at the Marine Environmental Sciences Laboratory (LEMAR). I’ve been fascinated by the marine environment, foreshore and macroalgae for years, and I’m lucky enough to be doing a PhD project that combines field sampling and optical image analysis to study macroalgae in Brittany. To do this, I carried out an inventory of the flora of 9 foreshores in Finistère and, at the same time, I obtained multispectral satellite images as well as hyperspectral images from planes and drones of my study sites. The hyperspectral images, with their high spatial and spectral resolution, enabled meRead More →

Fascinated for years by marine sciences, and more particularly by the study and valorisation of macroalgae, I am currently working on a CIFRE PhD thesis in partnership with an academic supervisor, the Laboratory of Environmental Marine Sciences (LEMAR) and an industrial supervisor, the SME ALGAIA. In response to the proliferation of temperate and tropical brown macroalgae of the genus Sargassum C. Agardh (Phaeophyceae, Fucales) on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, my PhD project VALSARG focuses on the valorisation of this biomass in two application sectors, plant and human health, through a study of their potential in biostimulation and modulation of bacterial flora. The resultsRead More →

My name is Florent, I’m a 4th year PhD student working under the supervision of Helena Cruz de Carvalho, in Chris Bowler’s labs at the Institut de Biologie of the ENS (IBENS). I have a strong interest in molecular biology and genetics, which led me to work on the non-coding genome of the team’s model diatom species, Phaeodactylum tricornutum. During my PhD, I focused on the optimization of the CRISPR-Cas9 system using a dual-RNA guide approach to generate diatom mutant strains. To do this, I used the ability of diatoms to undergo bacterial conjugation, which provides an elegant and “clean” approach to insert genetic materialRead More →

I have always been attracted and fascinated by the ocean, observing, admiring, and exploring it. In high school, the idea of becoming an oceanographer struck me, and it stuck with me ever since. So I did an MSc in Oceanography in Belgium, which led to this Ph.D. thesis that I’m currently working on. I am now a Ph.D. candidate at IFREMER, in Nantes and I am currently working in marine biology. My research focuses on the in-depth study of the mechanisms underlying mixotrophy in harmful microalgae. More specifically, I am working on understanding the physiology of Prymnesium parvum, its trophic mode, growth, and toxin (prymnesins)Read More →