|
During a whole month, the Vardi Group from the Weizmann Institute will be isolated in a Norwegian fjord to study the small microbes that have a big impact.
In a scientific expedition to Norway the lab of Prof. Assaf Vardi of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences will conduct a month-long experiment to reveal the many secrets about life in the ocean and how we are connected to it.
Most of the time, we make our discoveries in the laboratory, where we can conduct experiments in controlled environments. But what happens in the real world? Can we scale up our discoveries to the ocean? How does it work in real natural waters where everything is connected? What don’t we know yet? Answering those questions is exactly the purpose of this expedition.
Marine photosynthetic microorganisms (phytoplankton) are key to the functioning of our planet. They are the basis of marine food webs, absorb carbon dioxide whilst producing nearly as much oxygen than all rainforest together, and greatly influence global biogeochemical cycles on Earth. Put it simply, no phytoplankton, no life.
Along with several other scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ETH Zürich, CNRS, Max Planck Society, ICM-CSIS and more, collaborating with the Vardi group on this project, they will address many questions. What are the dynamics of viral infection in the water? What influence does this infection have on the chemical composition of sinking matter and emitted aerosols? How do cells communicate between each other in this stressful situation, and what type of interactions do they establish with other organisms beyond viruses?
This is the continuation of a fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration between a biologist (Prof. Assaf Vardi) and a cloud physicist (Prof. Ilan Koren from the Weizmann Institute Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences). The goal of this collaboration is to enhance our understanding of the ocean-atmosphere feedback, characterise the aerosolized microorganisms emitted from a phytoplankton bloom, and investigate particles deposition as a viral transmission vector.
Follow them and keep up with their findings on:
| 
smoove marketing platform
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
