World Microbiome Day 2021 - Special theme 'Sustainability'
Together with our collaborating H2020 projects MicrobiomeSupport, SIMBA, Circles and MASTER we successfully released the long awaited materials from our #Microbiomes4Life campaign and the run up to WMD2021.
60 participants from 22 countries logged in to watch our first online webinar on how hologenomics can be utilised for a more sustainable future! From bee social behaviour, to successful seaweed production to how urban spaces may impact bird microbiomes this webinar had it all!
Organised together with other "Holo-omic" projects FindingPheno, HoloFish and the Earth Hologenome Initiative at the Center for Evolutionary HoloGenomics.
#Microbiomes4Life Social Media campaign highlights
With a successful Horizon Booster grant under their belt, the newly formed #Microbiomes4Life cluster was formed : Comprised of MicrobiomeSupport, SIMBA, MASTER, CIRCLES and HoloFood with a common goal of communicating the importance of microbiomes within food systems the run up towards WMD2021 has allowed for the release of our common Twitter campaign and related materials. Below you can see some of the highlights!
Harnessing the Hologenome for our Sustainable Future
An online webinar open to all
Thursday 24th June, 3pm CEST
From the birds to the bees to the biofuels in the seas, harnessing the power of microbiomes is becoming increasingly recognised for its potential in solving the world’s most challenging problems. In keeping with this year's World Microbiome Day theme of sustainability, four UCPH-led holo-projects bring you this webinar highlighting how research of both the microbiome and the host animal, insect or plant can be used to explain the world around us with a new lens.
In this short webinar you will hear from four leading researchers about their exciting research tackling these challenges and how the microbiome can contribute.
Hosted by the Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics and co-organised by HoloFish, HoloFood, The Earth HoloGenome Initiative & FindingPheno.
Invited Talks
Talk 1: The role of the hologenome in defining group-identity in social insects
Prof. Yehuda Ben-Shahar - Washington University in St. Louis, US
My webinar will discuss recent findings about the role of the gut microbiome in regulating the chemosensory signalling pathways that regulate nestmate recognition in colonies of social insects. Based on recent findings in the honey bee, I will offer a somewhat new perspective on how symbiotic bacteria may have shaped the evolution of insect eusociality.
Talk 2: Omics in aquaculture: exploiting metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to improve seaweed domestication
Melisa Osborne and Kelly Deweese, PhD Candidates, University of Southern California, US
Seaweeds (macroalgae) have global economic significance to several industries, importantly to cosmetics, food, and biofuels. As marine aquaculture of macroalgae expands, biologists are working to domesticate macroalgae species by applying techniques tested in agriculture to wild macroalgae species. “Omics” techniques have been employed with huge success in the improvement of agricultural crops, including metabolomics, which has been used to study metabolites and pathways that influence agriculturally relevant traits in crops, and metagenomics, which has improved understanding of host–symbiont interactions and the potential for microbial organisms to improve crop outcomes. We will discuss how the investigation of macroalgae metabolomes and metagenomes through a "holo-omics" lens will allow for rapid domestication with informed crossing schemes and genomic improvement strategies.
Talk 3: Trials and tribulations of the avian gut microbiota in the urban mosaic
Associate Prof. Marta Szulkin,Wild Urban Evolution & Ecology Lab, University of Warsaw
How anthropogenic and urban change impacts the gut microbiota of wild animals is still largely unknown. I will here (i) demonstrate that how the urban space is defined can affect the outcomes of studies investigating animal-microbe symbiosis. I will further (ii) report how distinct environmental dimensions of the urban space covary with the community composition of avian early-life microbiota. Finally, I will (iii) outline further work that would strengthen our understanding of gut microbiome variation in the urban space.
