[Coral-List] Call for abstracts for our ICRS session: "How can new imaging-based tools help us better understand corals and other reef organisms?"

[Gibbin Emma Mary]

Dear colleagues,


Dr. Philippe Laissue and I are would like to draw your attention to our ICRS session "How can new imaging-based tools help us better understand corals and other reef organisms?".

This session is part of Theme 07: "Scalable observations and technologies". The goal of our session is for people to present new imaging approaches/techniques. We encourage speakers to discuss both the practical and applied aspects of their techniques, with the goal of addressing new biological questions.

I have pasted the abstract for our session below:

Abstract: Our better understanding of the cellular processes underlying the biology of reef organisms and the dynamics within their communities depends on the ability to image their morphology and composition over time and at high spatial resolution. Imaging calcifying organisms such as corals however, is complicated by their opaque aragonite skeleton, the complex microtopography of the surface and the difference in scale that exists between the many symbiotic partners that form the holobiont. Traditional analytical techniques have relied on the physical separation of the main components– calcified skeleton, coral tissue and symbionts. Such approaches 1) preclude observation of dynamic host-symbiont or host-pathogen interactions, and 2) lose all information about the spatial distribution of compounds within tissues and cells. The first limitation can be overcome by non-invasive, live imaging techniques such as light-sheet fluorescence microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and/or digital holographic microscopy. Importantly, live imaging can be combined with other powerful in situ techniques such as microfluidics and micro-electrodes, which enables the observation and measurement of in vivo morphological, behavioural and physiological responses of an organism to environmental stress (e.g. enhanced mucus production prior to bleaching, zooxanthellar expulsion in response to stress, and mesenterial filament dynamics in wound repair and pathogenicity). The second constraint can be overcome using high spatial resolution molecular imaging techniques such as nano-scale secondary-ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI), which, when combined with stable isotopes, enables the quantification and/or identification of the flux of metabolites in an intact symbiosis. Live- and molecular imaging techniques are in fact, highly complementary, and the combination of the two has the potential to help answer some of the most fundamental questions remaining in coral reef research: how does the coral immune system function? What is the tipping point for the transition between health and disease? And, how will the coral holobiont respond to multiple stressors in the face of climate change? The techniques presented here are not limited only to coral. They can also be used to probe the composition of- and dynamics between different species within coral reef communities, from crustose coralline algae and cyanobacteria to microbiomes and the coral holobiont. In this session, we invite leading scientists to showcase their latest results and present the advantages of new imaging approaches. We encourage speakers to emphasise practical aspects, with the intention to stimulate usage of the showcased technique for addressing new biological questions.

Abstracts that wish to be considered for this session should be completed no later than 1st of September on the ICRS website: http://www.icrs2020.de/program/call-for-abstracts/
[http://www.icrs2020.de/fileadmin/_processed_/ogIMG/icrs2020-international-coral-reef-symposium-og.png]<http://www.icrs2020.de/program/call-for-abstracts/>

Call for Abstracts - 14th International Coral Reef Symposium - Bremen - Germany | ICRS 2020<http://www.icrs2020.de/program/call-for-abstracts/>
www.icrs2020.de
Welcome to the ICRS 2020 website!


Thank you for your attention.


Dr. Emma Gibbin

Postdoctoral Fellow
Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne