ICEBIO is a Marie-Curie PhD network for collaborative and multidisciplinary research to answer key questions about microbial ecology and adaptation in glacial habitats. ICEBIO involves 11 PhD students from 7 institutions working either on the biological or the geochemical aspect of the cryosphere. This project encompasses various parts of the cryosphere, from atmospheric deposition on the glacier to meltwater runoff and glacier-fed streams.
At EPFL, we focus on Hydrurus foetidus, the dominant alga in glacier-fed streams. We characterise its associated microbial community and study its genome to understand the adaptive traits and strategies the alga developed to adapt to the particularly harsh environment it thrives in.
Further information can be found on the ICEBIO webpage: https://www.icebio.eu/pages/project/index.html
EPFL Project Leader: Léa Francomme (PhD student)
Fieldwork, technical and scientific support: Nicola Deluigi, Florian Baier, Grégoire Michoud and Hannes Peter Markus
Principial Investigator: Prof Tom I. Battin
The international ICE BIO team
