Biology and Ecology of Abundant Protists Lab
image credit: C. Sigona
The BEAP Lab is part of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) in Barcelona. Our goal is to isolate, culture and subsequently characterize the cell biology, behavior and ecosystem relevance of the most abundant unknown protists on earth. Protists are single-celled and colonial microbial eukaryotes which, due to their size (generally between a few micrometers and a few hundred micrometers) are a critical part of the food webs in all of earth's principal ecosystems. In addition, protists form the backbone of the eukaryotic tree of life, meaning that studies of protists inform our understanding of the evolution of eukaryotic cell biology, gene content and species diversity.
Latest News and Announcements
The BEAP lab and our research were featured in an article in PRBB's El·lipse magazine.
Postdoc Adrià Auladell has been awarded funding from the Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL) for a project titled "Deciphering the linkage between abundance and microevolution patterns in aquatic microbial species."
Read a summary in Newsweek of our collaborative effort to isolate and characterize a large colonial from Mono Lake, California that harbors live bacteria.
Check out this interview with BEAP lab manager Cristiana Sigona: "Keep the beginner's spirit."
Interested in joining us for a Master's, PhD or postdoc, or a short research stay? See our People page or this list of opportunities for more details!
Our Funding Sources
