I’m still a newbie to coral reef research, previously associated predominantly with medical sciences. I graduated in biotechnology at the University of Wroclaw (Poland) and shortly after started a Ph.D. in mass spectrometry-based proteomics at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. Since then I’m using proteomics and other “omics” techniques to answer biological questions in a variety of species, tissues and experimental setups, e.g.  

 

I was involved in large scale studies of gene/protein expression and post-translational modifications (phosphorylation and acetylation) in cancer, schizophrenia, pregnancy and organ development, working both with human material and animal models.

 

Corals, due to their massive diversity and the lacking or insufficient background information (e.g. genome sequence and annotation), are a challenge at nearly all the stages of proteomics workflow, starting from sample collection and processing, through bioinformatics analysis, to biological interpretation. My role in Coralassist is to overcome these challenges and, using proteomics tools, to identify proteins and molecular mechanisms behind the thermal stress resistance/vulnerability in corals.