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SUMMARY:EESS talk on "New insights into the biogeochemical cycle of seleni
 um"
DTSTART:20160517T121500
DTEND:20160517T131500
DTSTAMP:20260506T205337Z
UID:099f8a9fbd4ada09eca7fdfe7c3fbd36cb00a0ebd4d8e42d80f9edbb
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Lenny Winkel\, professor\, head\, Environmental Inorganic G
 eochemistry\, EAWAG and ETHZ\, CH\nAbstract:\nSelenium (Se) is an importan
 t micronutrient as it is present in the essential amino acid selenocystein
 e. This amino acid is incorporated in selenoproteins that serve a wide ran
 ge of biological functions. Due to the central role of selenium in these p
 roteins and the structural similarity of selenocysteine to the sulfur anal
 ogue cysteine\, selenium only has a narrow range of safe concentrations fo
 r humans\, i.e. 30 - 900 μg/day. In environmental systems\, including agr
 icultural soils\, selenium is characterized by an uneven distribution\, wh
 ich\, in combination with a narrow optimal intake range and low plant bioa
 vailability has resulted in environmental health issues\, of which seleniu
 m deficiency is most prevalent. Atmospheric deposition is believed to be a
 n important source of selenium to soils and could therefore be an importan
 t factor in explaining environmental selenium distributions. This talk wil
 l give new insights in the atmospheric sources\, sinks and fluxes of selen
 ium and how these are linked.  Furthermore\, it will show how information
  on the processes that control selenium distributions in soils can be used
  to establish large-scale geospatial predictions of selenium contents in s
 oils using statistical models. The use of statistical models helps in adva
 ncing our understanding of the processes driving large-scale distributions
  of selenium. In addition\, resulting predictions will help in the prevent
 ion of future health hazards related to unsafe levels of Se in soils.Short
  biography:\nProf. Lenny Winkel is an environmental geochemist at ETH Zuri
 ch and Eawag\, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technolo
 gy. Her research focuses on biogeochemical trace element cycling from mole
 cular to global scales. In her research\, Prof. Winkel aims at achieving a
  better understanding of the environmental cycling and distribution of tra
 ce elements with important health impacts\, such as selenium and arsenic. 
 A further aim is to predict wide-scale trace element distributions in the 
 present and in the future. To achieve these goals\, Prof. Winkel and her r
 esearch group link geochemical processes to biological and climatic proces
 ses using innovative and interdisciplinary approaches.
LOCATION:GR C0 01 http://plan.epfl.ch/?room=GR%20C0%2001
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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