ESTEAM · Moving into the genomics of marine biodiversity

Final Activity Report Summary - ESTEAM (Moving into the genomics of marine biodiversity)

Objectives and methodology With the advances in genomics, the high through-put analysis of the components of living organisms, from nucleic acids to metabolites, biology and ecology are experiencing a major shift in both concepts and techniques. Key issues in marine biology and ecology - such as, the census and preservation of biodiversity, the sustainable management of living resources, the understanding of the evolution and adaptation of life and the uncovering and production of natural products of interest - can now be addressed with genomics approaches. Thus, those young scientists who wish to enter the field of marine biological sciences must now be prepared to simultaneously grasp the main issues in their domain and become familiar with the most recent developments in genomics. The Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR) is a research and training centre in marine biology and ecology. At the beginning of this programme, the SBR had taken a leading stance in promoting the genomics on marine models and ecosystems, eg. by leading the NoE 'Marine Genomics Europe'. The Institute had built capacities in sequencing / transcriptomics / bioinformatics / mass spectrometry and proteomics / 3-D structure determination. This EST programme, 'Moving into the genomics of marine biodiversity', also referred to as 'ESTEAM', was thus designed to provide European pre-doctoral fellows with an advanced, interdisciplinary training programme in marine biology, with an emphasis on genomics, while reinforcing their professionalism and competitiveness as future researchers. Based both on research and technology training in the Institute's research groups and core services and on an integrated curriculum of specific courses and workshops, this was to be achieved as follows: 1) rapidly integrate the incoming Marie Curie fellows in the SBR, both scientifically and culturally, and make them to quickly become aware of the full extent of the scientific opportunities offered by the marine station and its collaborative network; 2) give a high attention to their research projects, including with external mentoring; 3) provide them with a complementary training in order to overcome any obstacle to further mobility and to raise their professional profiles; 4) give them a general awareness of general issues in marine biological sciences; 5) and familiarise them with technical skills in modern biology. Results A total of 11 ESTEAM fellows were recruited, consisting of 9 PhD fellows and 2 engineers. The PhD fellows were incorporated into the SBR research groups, with a focus on functional genomics, environmental genomics, structural genomics or marine natural products, while the engineers were hosted by two of the core services, namely marine facilities and structural genomics. For circa two weeks at the beginning of each year they were enrolled in theoretical and practical courses in (marine) biology and ecology, divided in three main sections, ranging from ecosystems to molecules. The ESTEAM fellows also attended complementary skills sessions organised at the SBR with the help of external professionals, dealing with topics such as, written and oral scientific communication, job seeking techniques, the structure of the ERA, and how to write and to manage a European project. All but one of the 9 PhD fellows have successfully defended their theses, most with very interesting scientific results. This so far has led to the publication of 14 papers, including in high-profile journals such as, Nature, Genome Biology, Genome Research, PLoS 1, BMC Molecular Biology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Environmental microbiology, Plant Physiology, and New Phytologist. Six manuscripts are submitted and 16 are in preparation. Five of the ESTEAM fellows are now engaged in post-doctoral positions and two were hired in private companies. One of the engineers was accepted as a PhD student. The three other fellows are applying for positions, in research or in the management of international research projects.

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