BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Memento EPFL// BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:ENAC Seminar Series by Dr I. Altshuler DTSTART:20210520T104500 DTEND:20210520T113000 DTSTAMP:20260924T120902Z UID:e9b8edcefb7b5d5b957fa8bd48e2b67c60382e8e25459fae915d3928 CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars DESCRIPTION:Dr Ianina Altshuler\n10:45 – 11:30 – Dr I. Altshuler\nPost doctoral Fellow at Norwegian University of Life Sciences\, Norway\n\nEnvir onmental adaptation in cryospheric environments undergoing climate change: from molecular to population scale responses\n\nCryospheric environments present hostile conditions including sub-zero temperatures\, nutrient scar city and low water availability\, yet are crucially shaped by active and d iverse extremophilic microorganisms. Environmental adaptation of microbial communities includes both population shifts and individual fundamental mo lecular changes such as alternative metabolisms and production of cold-spe cific enzymes that allow organisms to thrive in cryospheric environments. Importantly\, ecosystems in terrestrial cryospheric environments are parti cularly sensitive to climate change and anthropogenic stressors. This frag ility is unbalanced as permafrost thaw releases organic carbon stores whic h fuel microbial respiration\, thus contributing to further greenhouse gas emissions\, in a positive feedback loop of climate warming. Understanding environment adaptation of microbial communities on whole population and i ndividual molecular scales is key in predicting and mitigating further dis ruptions to cryospheric terrestrial ecosystems. By integrating field in si tu metabolic detection and sequencing technologies with controlled laborat ory experiments\, we identified microbial populations responsible for nitr ous oxide (N2O) release from permafrost-affected soils\, as well as novel methane (CH4) metabolizing microorganism\, uncovering a molecular mechanis m for negative flux through CH4 sequestration in high Arctic permafrost so ils. Building on our knowledge of metabolic adaptation strategies in cryoe nvironments\, we demonstrated mechanisms for cold adaptation including mod ifications to cellular membranes\, pigment production\, and specialized co ld-induced proteins. Specifically\, we have isolated a novel Antarctic yea st that utilizes ethanol fermentation as a cold adaptive strategy and does so at the lowest temperature reported for natural ethanol production. Und erstanding such molecular adaptation strategies will also enable us to uti lize cold-adapted enzymes and cultured microbial species for sustainable i ndustrial applications and for carbon capture and storage technologies. Bu ilding on this research in the future\, we can aim to determine ecosystem tolerance and potential for warm adaptation\, identify keystone species th at influence robustness of permafrost microbiomes\, and identify microbial interactions with larger eukaryotic organisms for overall ecosystem funct ion.\n\nShort bio:\nDr. Ianina Altshuler is an Arctic field and experiment al microbial ecologist. She holds an Honours BSc in Biological Sciences fr om York University and an MSc in Environmental Sciences from Windsor Unive rsity. Dr. Altshuler completed her PhD in Environmental Microbiology at Mc Gill University (Quebec\, Canada) working on the microbial responses to cl imate warming in Arctic permafrost soils and microbial contributions to bi ogeochemical cycles. Currently\, Dr. Altshuler\, is a Postdoctoral Researc h Fellow at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences studying greenhouse gas mitigating strategies in agriculture through engineering of specialize d microbial communities. LOCATION:https://epfl.zoom.us/j/62536715632 STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR