Marine ecotoxicology and environmental biotechnology

It focuses on the basic study of responses of coastal primary producers, such as macroalgae and marine angiosperms, to environmental fluctuations in order to understand the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that determine stress tolerance. In applied terms, biochemical and molecular stress signals are studied for the development of biomarkers, which can be applied as biotechnology tools for biomonitoring and environmental diagnosis.

 
Ecophysiology of macroalgae

It assesses the productive potential of aquatic photosynthetic organisms, generating scientific and technological information on how primary producers operate in natural aquatic ecosystems and transformed by events associated with climate change, taking as a prime example the ecophysiological responses and effects in cycles of algal life Biotechnology use of the algal resources is also studied; in addition to community structure and conservation of ecosystems associated with macroalgae.

 
Climate Change on Antarctic macroalgae

It aims to predict the mechanisms through which green, red and brown macroalgae will respond to future environmental conditions associated with Climate Change. In regard to fluctuating factors such as temperature increases and excess UV radiation, we intend to identify relevant metabolic and transcriptomic pathways that eventually mediate adaptation to Climate Change. Also, these investigations may help to understand the mechanisms that allow Antarctic macroalgae to thrive under the extreme environmental conditions of the Pole.