Geomicrobiologist in lakes (drying and freezing ones), rock licker, hip-hop digger
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We have a new paper out in @sedimentology #openaccess journal the Depositional Record. We present a potential modern analogue for investigating the influence of microbes on #BIF formation --> Banded Iron Travertines of the Greek Ilia hot spring (link: https://
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New paper finally out on our work with @UmrCarrtel on the sedimentary methane cycling in the ice-covered lake Onego : Available in #openaccess at Inland Waters @SIL_limnology #lifeundertheice
Lateral variations and vertical structure of the microbial methane cycle in the sediment of Lake Onego (Russia)
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I am a geomicrobiologist with a geology background, interested in the impact of microbial communities on sedimentary environments. My main playground is lakes and their sediment. Lakes are diverse systems, that host immense potential for paleoclimatic and paleoenvionmental reconstructions. But the processes influencing the deposition, preservation and transformation (early diagenesis) of their sediment are also diverse and complex. Subsurface microbial communities are the main actors in this environment. Hence, understanding their diversity, structure and activity is fundamental in order to access the full potential of lacustrine sediments as paleoclimatic archives.
We use a panel of classic methods from geology (microfacies analysis, scanning electron microscopy, geochemical characterization of minerals and organic matter) and biology (epifluorescence microscopy, DNA and RNA analysis through gene quantification and sequencing,) to apply cutting edge approach to the field of geomicrobiology.
#geomicrobiology #sedimentology #molecularbiology #organicgeochemistry
Ironlake, Lake FagnanoLago Fagnano is an iron rich lake that exhibits a unique and anthropogenically undisturbed sedimentary record for the South American region. Within the ironlake project, our goal (together with Ina Neugebauer) is to constrain the modality of formation of iron minerals within iron-rich laminae in order to use iron isotopes as a proxy for climatic reconstructions. The analysis of active microbial communities involved in the iron cycle and their contribution to the formation and dissolution of iron minerals will be investigated to constrain the usage of lago Fagnano’s sediments as climatic archives.
#paleoclimate #organomineralization #iron #earlydiagenesis
Boreal and sub-boreal lakes are important contributors to greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) to the atmosphere. However, most global budget are calculated based on icefree periods, while most of these akes are ice-covered during a large part of the year. In collaboration with the Northern Water Problems Institute of Karelia, and a network of western-European universitites, we try to understand what are the parameters influencing microbial communities structural and functional diversity in relation to the methane cycle in the ice-covered Onego lake, in Russia.
#methanogenesis #AOM #microbialecology #trophicsystem
You can read more about this project here
The DSDDP is an ICDP-funded drilling project that aims at reconstructing the paleoenvironments and paleoseismicity of the Levantine region during the last 250 ka.
Microbes are the only form of life in this hypersaline environments. The unique archives of the deep Dead Sea Basin have revealed that microbial communities differed based on specific sedimentary facies representative of distinct limnological and paleoenvironmental conditions. Our analysis highlights the importance of applying geobiological approach within such pluridisciplinary projects to account for the microbial imprint on paleoclimatic archives.
#extremophiles #hypersaline #geomicrobiology #paleoenvironments #organominerals
You can find related publications here
I am taking part in the effort of describing and understanding the paleobiologic and paleoclimatic unicity of Macedonian lake Ohrid, within the ICDP-funded SCOPSCO project. I apply a microbial ecology approach by comparing microbial communities present in deep sedimentary intervals corresponding to distinct climatic stages. Our goal is to gain insights into the way microbial communities assemble in deep sediments.
#microbialecology #diversity #paleoenvironments #assembly
You can access the ICDP project page here
The impact of microbial communities on the geological record has existed since the origin of life. An extraordinary example of this impact is banded iron formation that form today the main iron ore deposits on earth. By applying geochemical and geomicrobiological approach to a iron-rich travertines from a continental hot spring in the Greek Island of Evia, we investigate the processes of formation of iron-rich laminae as potential analogs to BIF deposits.
#thermophiles #organomineralization #travertine #ironoxidation
Microbes also deeply influence biogeochemical cycles in your backyard. Recent discoveries have shown that algal species in lake Geneva have the potential to concentrate metals in their cells by forming carbonate micropearls. I participate in the effort to identify these organisms and the processes leading to such accumulation of metaloids.
#biomineralizations #micropearls #barium #strontium #lakegeneva #algae
The first publication from this project came out recently in Geobiology
Thomas, C., Ebert, Y., Kiro, Y., Stein, M. and Ariztegui, D.: Microbial sedimentary imprint on the deep Dead Sea sediment, Depos. Rec., 1–21, doi:10.1002/dep2.16, 2016.
Martignier, A., Pacton, M., Filella, M., Jaquet, J.-M., Barja, F., Pollok, K., Langenhorst, F., Lavigne, S., Guagliardo, P., Kilburn, M., Thomas, C., Martini, R., Ariztegui, D. and Ariztegui, R. M. D.: Intracellular amorphous carbonates uncover a new biomineralization process in eukaryotes, Geobiology, 1–14, doi:10.1111/gbi.12213, 2016.
Thomas, C., Ionescu, D. and Ariztegui, D.: Impact of paleoclimate on the distribution of microbial communities in the subsurface sediment of the Dead Sea, Geobiology, 13(6), 546–561, doi:10.1111/gbi.12151, 2015.
Ariztegui, D., Thomas, C. and Vuillemin, A.: Present and future of subsurface biosphere studies in lacustrine sediments through scientific drilling, Int. J. Earth Sci., 104(6), 1655–1665, 2015.
Thomas, C., Ionescu, D., Ariztegui, D. and Party, the D. S.: Archaeal populations in two distinct sedimentary facies of the subsurface of the Dead Sea, Mar. Genomics, 17, 53–62, doi:10.1016/j.margen.2014.09.001, 2014a.
Thomas C., Perga M.-E., Frossard V., Pasche N., Hofmann H., Ariztegui D., Dubois N., Belkina N. & Lyautey E.(2017) Vertical structure and horizontal variations in the cycling of methan in the sediment of Lake Onego, Russia. In EGU General Assembly Conference 2017, Vienna, Austria (Poster)
Lyautey E, Ariztegui D, Bouffard D, Dubois N, Frossard V, Tofield-Pasche N, Perga M-E & Thomas C. (2016) and the Life Under the Ice scientific team: Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemical Cycling in the Seasonally-Covered Lake Onego, Russia. In Goldschmidt 2016 conference, Yokohama, Japan. (Oral)
Thomas, C., Ariztegui, D., Frossard V., Lyautey E., Perga M.-E. & Life Under Ice Scientific Team. (2016, April). Life under ice: Investigating microbial-related biogeochemical cycles in the seasonally-covered Great Lake Onego, Russia. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (Vol. 18, p. 17868). (Poster)
Thomas, C., Levy, E. J., Antler, G., Grossi, V., Sivan, O., Yechieli, Y., Gavrieli, I., Turchyn, a V, Stein, M., Ariztegui, D. and the DSDDP Scientific Team (2014) Organic Proxy Disturbance in the Dead Sea Basin at the Beginning of the Holocene. In AGU fall Meeting, 2014, San Francisco, USA. (Poster)
Thomas, C., Ionescu, D., Ariztegui D., and the DSDDP Scientific team (August 2014)
The Dead Sea subsurface biosphere: Identifying specific microbial assemblages and their metabolic potential in an extreme environment. In International Sedimentology Congress, Geneva, Switzerland. (Oral)
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A recent metagenome study by Evans et al., (2015) has detected the presence of a divergent mcrA gene sequence in Bathyarchaeota (formerly Miscellaneous Crenaorchaeotal group).
This has very strong implications such as :
-not only members of the Euryachaeota phylum are able to perform methanogenesis
-a version of mcrA existed in the Bathyarchaota and Euryarchaeota common ancestor
-new primers should be used to take into account the divergent Bathyarchaota mcrA gene to analysie methanogenesis, in the marine realm, and also in lacustrine ecosystems.
-these Bathyarchaeota can do a lot of amazing things (see Lloyd et al., 2013 & Meng et al., 2014)
here is the paper : http://
and here is a nice overview of the story : http://
refs:
Lloyd, K. G., Schreiber, L., Petersen, D. G., Kjeldsen, K. U., Lever, M. A., Steen, A. D., ... & Jørgensen, B. B. (2013). Predominant archaea in marine sediments degrade detrital proteins. Nature, 496(7444), 215-218.
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Just when you thought it cannot get better than @Runthejewels music, humour and message... These guys are amazing human beings.
http://
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Some thoughts and words about this amazing week-end at "l'échappée volée 2015" in Chateau de Chambord
- there is a whole world of people thinking very hard to invent new things, and a lot of them actually don't want to make money! #ignorant #sonaive
- Chambord is nicer when there are no tourists #viveleloiretcher
- Some say that the numeric (or digital i’m not sure) revolution we are currently experiencing is as meaningful as the development of language or writing to our humanity @singularityuniversity
- a good talk has a joke in its first minute and ends up with a one phrase message that is most of the time pretentious
- two PhD students have founded @waxscience to fight the bias of gender and sex in science, and they are amazing @audeBer et @vincentflora
- only two women were giving talks in this « renaissance » afternoon and they were the founder of @waxscience #wakeup #tryharder
- You should get ready for having your microbiome cleaned up by robot viruses created by #eligobiome and it is freaking me out #transhumanity #attheedgeofethics
-CRISPR-Cas is the tool for it and here is a related paper by the founders http://
-A genius named @pyduan wants to save the world « one algorithm at a time » by using his knowledge on #bigdata
- He was the idol of the weekend and totally deserves it. Check out his work @bayesproject
- Cricket is very good in cocoa and pistachio energy bars #gryö
- @glowee makes light with biolumniscence genes but it is not powerful enough to bring it to the city. It probably looks good though.
- Some guys are super efficient at understanding what the issue is, what the drawbacks are, how to communicate on your qualities. And they often tweet very fast.
- I can’t so I write my thoughts here, the day after.
- Too much connectivity was a nervous breakdown symptom for @guybirenbaum
- Miguel Benasayag is not a quitter and gives pizza board talks like no one else
- Foie gras and macarons are perfect together with a string quartet on the roof of Chambord #simplicityisthekey
- Fake future trials should not occur after everyone has had champagne in a privatized Chambord castle
-The future of music sounds incredible thanks to @devialet and looks like your vacuum cleaner #ohcomeon!
- So many people seem so nice at echapée volée, and a lot of them actually are. You can figure it out with asparagus on hollandaise sauce.
- At the end of the day you have plenty of ideas and you realize people had them before you, so back to your PhD world now... (and talk about this to your research colleagues)