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Info DEE # 3-March 2019
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WELCOME TO OUR NEW COLLEAGUES
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Ms Agnès Duhamet joined the group of Prof. Laurent Keller for a few months internship in the frame of her master studies in France. Agnes.Duhamet@unil.ch
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Ms Isabelle Henry is back in the group of Prof. Alexandre Roulin as SNF junior researcher for a few months. Isabelle is located in office 3206, phone 42.18. isabelle.henry@unil.ch
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Ms Opaline Journeau joined the group of Prof. Prof. Laurent Keller for a few months internship in the frame of her master studies in France. Opaline.Journeau@unil.ch
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Mr Nathan Külling joined the group of Prof. Alexandre Roulin as Field assistant. Nathan is located in office 3206, phone 42.18. Nathan.Kulling@unil.ch
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Ms Eléonore Lavanchy joined the group of Prof. Jérôme Goudet as PhD Student. Eléonore is located in office 4323, phone 42.43. Eleonore.Lavanchy@unil.ch
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Dr Soon-Jae Lee joined the group of Prof. Ian Sanders as Postdocotal fellow. Soon-Jae is located in office 4315, phone 42.46. Soon-Jae.Lee@unil.ch
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Ms Cindy Ramel joined the group of Prof. Antoine Guisan as invited researcher for a few months in the frame of a project with the WWF. Cindy is located in office 4301.1, phone 42.69. Cindy.Ramel@unil.ch
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We are also glad to count on the help of a new student-assistants: Ms Audrey Atherton (group Wedekind), Mr Marc Bastardot (group Schwander), Ms Danaé Bataillard (group Keller), Ms Lucija Grladinovic (group Arguello), and Mr Jules Hornung (group Wedekind). Welcome to them too.
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Our next DEE External Seminars will be held on March 20th. Prof. Tim Linksvayer (Linksvayer Lab - Social Evolution, Evolutionary Genetics, Behavioral Ecology, USA), invited at the DEE by Laurent Keller, will come to speak about the "Genomic signatures of social evolution in social insects".
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To check the coming DEE external seminars, you can visit the DEE Seminar agenda. We also remind that the DEE is testing a new "Pizza lunch" between PhD Students, Postdoctoral fellows and the invited speaker in order to facilitate interactions. The details about the organization are available on the DEE IntrAnet (Visit the Seminars section).
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The 2019 Behavior, Economics, and Evolution (BEE) Lecture Series, co-organized by HEC and FBM, has started on Feb. 28th. You can see the program here.
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Every year since 2008, the Department of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Lausanne, supported by the School of Biology, has organized the Careers in Conservation Day. This event is intended for students and employees of French-speaking universities interested in orienting their careers in the field of conservation. This year, the Conservation Day will be held on March 11th, at the Auditorium of the Biophore. You can see the program here.
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Congratulations to Prof. Michel Chapuisat who was appointed as Expert for the new UNIL Committee for Ethics in Research (CER-UNIL). This Committee will be devoted to the evaluation of the ethic aspects of research projects, in particular in the frame of H2020, SNF-NCCR and SCCER projects, or US projects (as of DARPA, NIH, etc.).
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Congratulations to Axelle Bono (group of Prof. Erica van de Waal) who is going to defend her public thesis (in french) on Friday March 8th 2019 at 5:30 pm Auditorium B, Genopode Building. Her thesis is entilted : "Les règles d'apprentissage social et leurs potentielles fonctions adaptatives chez les singes vervets sauvages" . We wish her the best for her defense.
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Congratulations to Dr Charlotte Canteloup, postdoctoral researcher associated at the DEE, who received this month a young researcher award from the Fondation des Treilles. This price has been awarded to her to continue her work on social learning and social networks in vervet monkeys by collaborating with Prof. Erica van de Waal here at the DEE and with Dr. Cédric Sueur from Strasbourg University.
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Congratulations to Dr Quentin Helleu, postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Laurent Keller, who obtained a Marie Sk?odowska-Curie to pursue his research at the DEE. He is working on the molecular bases of the queen-discrimination ability of Social chromosome-carrier ant workers in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta.
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The Swiss journal Le Matin published an article related to the work of one of our former PhD Student and former MA Ambizione, Dr Robert I'Anson Price and Dr Christoph Grüter. Their research showed that Honeybees' waggle dance loses its importance due to human-induced habitat change. Robbie and Christoph publised an article in the Science Advances review.
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Prof. Laurent Keller was on the air on March 5th on the CQFD show to explain how ants come out from the nest and which role is played by hormones. You can listen it here.
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The Keller's group was also on TV in RTS Info on March 6th about the same subject. Laurent Keller explained how inotocin affects labor division in ants colonies. See the video.
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Prof. Laurent Keller and his former postdoc, Dr Alexandra Bezler, published an article in Plos Genetics. Environmental factors such as heat or pathogens influence living organisms, and in some cases these experiences can be passed on to the next generation. One such environmental factor is double stranded RNA that can be taken up by some animals and induce changes in gene expression via small RNA mediated silencing. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model it shows clear differences between sexes in small RNA abundance that are associated with trans-generational inheritance.
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In collaboration with Japanese scientists, Prof. Laurent Keller and his PhD Student Sean Mc Gregor published an article in PNAS. In this paper the role of inotocin in ants is studied. This oxytocin/vasopressin-like peptide is widely conserved in arthropods, however little is known about its molecular function. This study shows that the expression levels of inotocin and its receptor are correlated with the age of workers and their behavior. It is also demonstrate that inotocin signalling is involved in desiccation resistance by regulating the synthesis of cuticular hydrocarbons. It is proposed that the up-regulation of inotocin and its receptor as workers age and switch tasks from nursing to foraging is a key physiological adaption to survive drier environments outside of the nest.
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J. Roman Arguello published a paper in Genome Biology and Evolution. Using population genomic samples of D. melanogaster from around world, we demonstrated that the inclusion of migration and admixture significantly improved the fit of demographic models involving New World populations, pushing back the earliest split time of these recently derived populations. An exception involved a North Asian population, which has been known to be an outlier genetically and morphologically. For this population, the inclusion of additional gene flow did not improve model fits. These results are consistent with humans aiding in the distribution of the fruit fly, as suggested by early shipping route details that provided strong connections to the New World locales, but weak connections to North Asia.
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In collaboration with the Bonizzoni Group from University of Pavia, the Waterhouse Group published in Frontiers in Genetics their study of the distribution and variability of viral sequences integrated into the genome of the Asian tiger mosquito. The landscape of viral integrations, from Rhabdoviruses and Flaviviruses, is variable among different Aedes albopictus populations, reflecting ancient and ongoing mosquito-virus interactions.
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Christine La Mendola, Lab technician in the group of Prof. Laurent Keller, was appointed by UNISEP as the DEE first-aid correspondent. Thank you Christine for your contribution to our safety.
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This year, the DEE Xmas party will takes place on Friday Dec. 13th at the Refuge de Renens. Last year the group Wedekind organized it and we are looking for another group to do it this year. If you volunteer, send an email before March 31st to Ian Sanders. Thank you!
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For the next years, if some people think that better places could be found, they are very welcome to make a detailed and quantified proposal to be sent to Ian Sanders. If you have any question before you start prospecting, feel free to ask to former organizers.
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Please help us to illustrate our newsletter with beautiful pictures (landscape, animal, research, organism...). Feel free to share your beautiful pictures (ideal size 720 px) by sending an email to marlene.petit@unil.ch and don't forget to mention your copyright if any.
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Thank you for your contributions.
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