Successful live stream from the Deep Arctic Ocean

Runar StokkeNews

 

Announcement for the live stream event

During a research cruise to the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridges, the DeepSeaQuence project co-hosted a live stream together with the Erasmus+ project RIALHE (https://rialhe.eu/) and the Center for Deep Sea Research (https://www.uib.no/en/deepsea), giving remote access to advanced infrastructure. During the live stream session from the ROV ÆGIR6000 onboard the research vessel G.O SARS, all registered participants had the opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A session. The ROV dive was conducted at the Loki’s Castle Vent field situated at ~2300 meters depth south/east of Svalbard (map).

In total, 302 registered for the event with 200 unique viewers during the live stream.

Visitors at the aquarium in Bergen following the live stream.

A special thank you to the Aquarium in Bergen giving us feedback on the big screen view of the live stream given to their visitors.

Views from the ROV control room onboard the research vessel G.O SARS during the live stream.

We had a good time onboard during the session, thank you to all involved; Runar Stokke, Petra Hribovšek, Eoghan Reeves (remotely from Hamburg), Ida H. Steen, Mari Heggernes Eilertsen (https://cbearctic.com/), Noemí Segura Sole, and the ROV team.

The webinar is available here: https://vimeo.com/981277232

 

 

DeepSeaQuence at ISME18

Runar StokkeNews

From 14-19 August 2022 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the project PI attended the 18th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, accompanied by Dr. Katharina Sass and PhD-candidates Francesca Vulcano, Petra Hribovsek and Emily Olesin Denny. Surrounded by the amazing view of the Swiss Alpes, we experienced an amazing atmosphere at the conference with cutting edge science within microbial ecology presented throughout the week, including the fantastic presentations and posters from Katharina, Francesca, Petra and Emily.                                                                                                       

We welcome PhD research fellow Trong Thuc Nguyen to DeepSeaQuence!

Runar StokkeProject members

My name is Thuc, and I have just started as a PhD research fellow at the University of Bergen and the DeepSeaQuence project.  I grew up in Vietnam and got my bachelor’s degree in biotechnology there. In 2018, I came to Europe for the first time to study the Erasmus Mundus Master in Marine environment and resources (MER). With my master’s programme, I had the chance to study in several European countries, starting at Southampton (United Kingdom), the Basque Country (Spain), and Liege (Belgium). I completed my master’s thesis in the UK at the Centre for environment, fisheries, and aquaculture science (Cefas), working on developing a high-throughput assay for identification of Vibrio species. My research interests are applied microbiology and biotechnology.

My PhD project aims to investigate the diversity of biosynthetic gene clusters and antimicrobial peptides in Arctic deep-sea hydrothermal vent microbiomes. With -omic technologies, the goal is to investigate those metabolic interactions inside the deep-sea microbial communities, search for novel biological compounds that can be applied in biotechnology, and infer the potential ecological roles of such compounds.

Eavesdropping on deep sea biofilms through transcriptomics

achimmallHydrothermal Sampling

Lab work for the DeepSeaQuence project is underway, and our first goal is to establish a transcriptomics-workflow for samples recovered from the deep sea. Transcriptomics (or RNA-sequencing) gives us unique snapshots of all the genes that the microbial communities living at hydrothermal vents were actively using at the moment that we sampled them – for example genes that help them to use volcanic gasses as energy sources, to break down organic matter, or to defend themselves against competing microbes. RNA molecules are very fragile, so we have to work carefully and find an optimal protocol that allows us to recover as much RNA from our frozen samples, copy it into DNA and sequence it without losing too much along the way. We are excited to soon get a glimpse into the private life of these communities that hide at the seafloor in total darkness!

DeepSeaQuence on its way!

Runar StokkeHydrothermal Sampling

DeepSeaQuence has officially started! The project was kicked off by joining the Center for Deep Sea Research (CDeepSea) to the Arctic mid-Ocean Ridge. Sampling was conducted at different hydrothermal vent sites.

                          Majestic structures and dense biofilms at Ægir’s Kilde

The microbiomes at deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites are fueled by the energy from the hydrothermal fluids, and thus, primary production is independent of photosynthesis. This is also the case for Ægir’s vent microbiome surrounding the chimneys at both focused-flow as well as diffuse-flow, emitting either white or shimmering hot fluids.

                  Blade coring and biofilm sampling at Seven Sisters Vent Field

On the other hand, the Seven Sisters vent field (~130 meters depth), at the southern part of the Arctic mid-Ocean Ridge, is situated in the epipelagic zone on top of a flat-top volcano. The microbiomes at this vent field could to a larger extent be influenced by photosynthesis and a larger organic input.