BRS Shana Goffredi: Chitty Lecture "Beyond skin deep: Specific surface-attached bacteria serve as novel nutrition for animals across the tree of life"

host: grad students, please contact Nicole Bison

Title talk: Beyond skin deep: Specific surface-attached bacteria serve as novel nutrition for animals across the tree of life

Abstract: Fifty years ago, scientists discovered invertebrates at the bottom of the ocean that forever changed how we view life on this planet. Abundant, thriving animal communities somehow harnessing inorganic sources of energy – a metabolic capability only available to microbes. Their enormous success is enabled by the best of two worlds – the morphological diversity of animals and the physiological diversity of bacteria. Many deep-sea animals are obligated to their bacterial partners, while others are intermittent. We will highlight facultative animal-microbe interactions from a variety of animal groups, from worms to sea spiders to anemones - some among the oldest known and some recently discovered, revealing surprising new relationships.

Short biography: Prof. Shana Goffredi is the current Chair of the Biology Department. Her research focuses on the cooperative interactions between invertebrates and bacteria that have significantly contributed to biodiversity on our planet by generating new forms (ex. animal organs and tissues, microbial structures), new physiologies, and even new evolutionary lineages. She explores the molecular ecology and biochemistry of symbiotic systems, and how the environment influences their functioning. Her B.S. is in Biology/Marine Science from the Univ. of San Diego and her Ph.D. is in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology from UC Santa Barbara.