left to right: Angela Bartolo, Gabrielle Zammit, Sarah Schembri
Dr Gabrielle Zammit, from the Department of Biology, recently participated in the 7th European Phycological Congress (EPC7) organised in Zagreb, Croatia. She was accompanied by two postgraduate students who work under her supervision, Sarah Schembri and Angela Bartolo.
The team presented new research about Maltese cyanobacteria and algae that are important primary producers in marine ecosystems. Their findings explain how these organisms are adapted to form complex communities called biofilms that grow on rocky shores around the Maltese islands. The research is still ongoing and a number of cyanobacterial, micro- and macroalgal strains that are new to science are currently being described using the latest microscopic and genetic techniques. Abstracts are published in the European Journal of Phycology.
The research was carried out at the Laboratory of Applied Phycology of the Centre of Molecular Medicine and Biobanking and was supported by the ENDEAVOUR Scholarship Scheme (Malta), which is part-financed by the EU’s European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the wellbeing of society, as well as the ENDEAVOUR Scholarship Scheme (Malta) – Group B – National Funds.