Understanding and predicting toxic cyanobacterial blooms with genomics

Environmental Biology Seminar Series: Dr Jesse Shapiro, Department of Biological Sciences – Université de Montréal. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Toxic cyanobacterial blooms are on the rise due to global change, posing a risk to drinking water quality and to freshwater ecosystems more broadly. In this talk, I will discuss my lab's fundamental and applied research on blooms. On the fundamental side, I will focus on the evolution and ecology of a common bloomformer, Microcystis. How is this genus divided into species, do they all produce toxins (and why?), and what are their ecological niches? Do Microcystis colonies have a distinct microbiome, and how does it affect their phenotypes and fitness? On a more applied level, can we use metagenomics to identify biomarkers that are predictive of toxic bloom events?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Jesse Shapiro holds the Canada Research Chair in Microbial Evolutionary Genomics. His research has led to a more unified concept of speciation – the origins of new species. He has developed computational tools to link bacterial genotypes and phenotypes, using these tools to identify mutations causing antibiotic resistant tuberculosis. His current work tracks bacterial evolution in real time, contributing to better clinical diagnostics and helping to predict harmful cyanobacterial blooms.