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Julian Pietsch

Postdoctoral Researcher, RG Sourjik
MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology
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Project: An experimental platform to characterise benthic microbial communities based on morphological differences between dynamic single-cell trajectories

Project summary:
Microbial communities in illuminated sea- and lakebeds play important roles in sustaining aquatic ecosystems and determining water quality and are implicated in the atmospheric oxygenation of earth. Despite their significance, these communities remain poorly understood, due both to their complex microenvironments, in which steep chemical gradients vary rhythmically with light availability, and to their high species diversity, which limits genetic manipulation. In this project we propose an experimental platform that combines a ‘synthetic seabed’ fluidic device for rational control of the microenvironment with a new deep learning approach that alleviates the need for reporter genes by quantifying physiologically-relevant changes in cell morphology. Our platform is designed for motile cyanobacteria and diatoms and will help to answer questions on their robustness to burial events, on the environmental factors driving cell migration, and on their transitions to and from resting stages.

Cooperation with: Judith Klatt (UMR, MEC), Remy Colin (MPI-TM)

Cooperation Partners