Project description
Unveiling the impact of light pollution on marine organisms
Increasing evidence indicates that artificial light at night (ALAN) disrupts the natural rhythms of marine organisms and affects reproduction. Recent findings in the worm Platynereis dumerilii show that certain brain cells in these worms change with the lunar cycle. However, the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon and how ALAN alters it remain unclear. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BrightPlaty project aims to understand how light pollution interferes with biological clocks at the cellular level. In this context, researchers will use single cell sequencing to map cell types involved in lunar rhythms and investigate the effects of ALAN.
Objective
In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) polluIn recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) pollution on behavior and physiology of many terrestrial and marine organisms. ALAN particularly interferes with the circadian and circalunar rhythms, which are used to coordinate reproduction in many ecologically important marine organisms, such as brown algae, corals, and annelids. The bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii has been established as a leading model organism to characterize the process controlling circadian and circalunar rhythms. Recent studies by the Raible and Tessmar-Raible laboratories (Vienna, Austria) revealed the temporal plasticity of a specific cell cluster in the adult worm brain, which is thought to orchestrate lunar rhythms. However, this intriguing discovery was made under laboratory conditions, prompting further investigation into how this translates in wild animals and whether it is affected by ALAN. This project will be hosted in the Tessmar-Raible (TR) lab at the Max Perutz Labs (MPL) - University of Vienna (Univie), Austria, and it has three objectives: (1) to obtain a complete atlas of the cell types showing lunar plasticity in P. dumeriliis brain by performing the single-cell transcriptomic experiment over the course of two lunar cycles; (2) to characterize the cell type plasticity in wild P. dumerilii; (3) to identify the effects of ALAN on such response. These objectives represent significant advancements in the field, as the plasticity of cell types in response to lunar and circadian cycles is poorly understood and has been rarely explored using single-cell sequencing. Additionally, integrating data from wild specimens will allow for an unprecedented assessment of these processes in natural conditions. Exploring the influence of ALAN on single-cell plasticity also introduces a novel dimension to single-cell analysis.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology phycology
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology invertebrate zoology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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1010 Wien
Austria
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