Staff
Biologist with sound experience in phytoplankton taxonomy. She studies phytoplankton diversity and ecology to deepen knowledge of different species and their interactions with the environment. Her research combines traditional and advanced methods, including light and electron microscopy and molecular analyses, to identify and characterise phytoplankton communities. Her scientific interests focus on understanding the dynamics of phytoplankton in relation to environmental conditions and exploring the mechanisms regulating variations in species abundance and composition across different spatial and temporal scales. She also investigates the effects of environmental factors on microalgae cultures in the laboratory to understand how different conditions influence their growth and gene expression.
She is primarily involved in maintaining the CoSMi Collection, including preparing culture media, isolating and taxonomically identifying microalgal strains using light microscopy, and maintaining them under controlled culture conditions. Her research interests include dinoflagellates, with particular emphasis on observing resting cysts of alien and/or potentially harmful species. She also manages cryopreservation as a long-term conservation technique. Additionally, she uses ecotoxicological approaches based on microalgal bioassays to evaluate environmental impacts in ecosystems affected by anthropogenic pressure.
She is primarily involved in maintaining the CoSMi Collection, including preparing culture media, isolating and taxonomically identifying microalgal strains, and maintaining them under controlled culture conditions. Her research interests include diatoms and flagellates and their characterization using inverted light microscopy and both scanning and electron electron microscopy. She is also involved in the molecular characterization of CoSMi strains through DNA extraction, amplification, Sanger sequencing, and related data analysis.
She is a marine biologist interested in phytoplankton ecophysiology and its implications for marine ecology. Her research often required the integration of different approaches and collaborations with other scientists. Her experimental work included studies with natural assemblages from marine and freshwater environments and laboratory-based experiments with monocultures. She has become increasingly interested in life cycles and trophic modes of unicellular organisms, and how they influence phytoplankton physiology and their role in population dynamics and ecosystem functioning. She is currently working on phytoplankton metabarcoring datasets as well as on the effects that phosphate limitation has on diatom monocultures.
