Uncovering the diversity, evolution, and functional roles of the microbial eukaryotes — corallicolids, algae, ciliates, and more — that live within corals and shape holobiont health.
Generating chromosome-scale reference genomes across the eukaryotic tree of life — from protists to corals to fish — to study biodiversity and evolution, as part of the Earth BioGenome Project and its Catalan (CBP) and European (ERGA) nodes.
Studying the coral holobiont as an integrated system — pairing microbiome metabarcoding with host transcriptomics to read how host and microbes vary across space within a colony, across the diel cycle, and across the shift from health to disease.
Characterising the microbial eukaryotes — protists — that live in and on marine animals across the full symbiotic spectrum, from mutualists to parasites, and building the tools to detect them.
Using single-cell transcriptomics to understand the heat stress response of reef coral holobionts.
Exploring the prokaryotic and microeukaryotic communities associated with marine animals — the Gulf Toadfish, the California Sea Hare, and Mediterranean bryozoans.
Identifying and isolating probiotic bacteria to protect the critically endangered Montseny Brook Newt against chytridiomycosis.
Building and curating the reference databases — PR2, EukRef, eKOI and more — that turn microeukaryote metabarcoding reads into named, placed, and ecologically meaningful taxa.
