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Research Associate

BIOGRAPHY:

Laura obtained a BSc in Environmental Science and an MSc in Water Quality Techniques and Sciences from the University of Granada (Spain).

At the Water Research Institute (Granada University, Spain), Laura worked on bacteria biofilm formation, investigating its potential for biodegrading methyl tert-butyl ether under the guidance of Prof. Clementina Perez. Following this, she investigated a novel secretion system in the pathogenic bacteria Neisseria while working with Prof. Jan Tommassen at Utrecht University (Netherlands). From 2014 to 2018, Laura was a research assistant at Microdish B.V. and Hoekmine B.V.

Laura was awared an industrial CASE PhD scholarship in collaboration with Hoekmine B.V. In 2018, she joined Vignolini's group to study the genetics of bacterial structural color and its potential biotechnological applications.

www.linkedin.com/in/laucaton

Research Interest:

Previous work reported the genetic and optical analysis of the brilliantly green-coloured Flavobacterium IR1 (F. IR1), isolated from an estuarine environment.

Flavobacterium IR1. (Hoekmine B.V.)

Structural colour is a consequence of light interacting with ordered nanostructures to reflect intense, angle-dependent hues. F. IR1 rapidly self-assembles into a 2D photonic crystal on hydrated surfaces to create complex and beautiful patterning. Consequently, IR1 colonies are able to display intense angle-dependent colours when illuminated by white light.

Transposon mutagenesis was used to identify genes that modulates structural colour in F. IR1, colony organization and photonic responses. Genes involved in gliding motility, the stringent response, polymer interactions and genes with no previously known role were found to be important. Despite the frequency and diversity of structural colour in living organisms, there is little knowledge of the underlying genes. A more widespread genomics effort is needed to understand how genes regulate the colour in F. IR1 and the evolution of both structural colour and structures in nature. 

 

Wild-type and mutated Flavobacterium IR1 colonies. (Hoekmine B.V.)

For her PhD, Laura aims to further investigate the synthetic biology aspects of this structural coloured bacteria, the specific genetic pathways which lead to different optical responses. Laura is looking forward to developing bacterial structural colour-inspired material which definitely has a major impact on the production of sustainable paints and new optical materials. 

Publications

Genetic engineering of structural colour in the model organism, Flavobacterium IR1
L Caton Alcubierre
(2024)
Structural color in the bacterial domain: The ecogenomics of a 2-dimensional optical phenotype.
A Zomer, CJ Ingham, FAB von Meijenfeldt, Á Escobar Doncel, GT van de Kerkhof, R Hamidjaja, S Schouten, L Schertel, KH Müller, L Catón, RL Hahnke, H Bolhuis, S Vignolini, BE Dutilh
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2024)
121,
e2309757121
Polysaccharide metabolism regulates structural colour in bacterial colonies.
GT van de Kerkhof, L Schertel, L Catòn, TG Parton, KH Müller, HF Greer, CJ Ingham, S Vignolini
– Journal of the Royal Society Interface
(2022)
19,
505
The outer-membrane protein MafA of Neisseria meningitidis constitutes a novel protein secretion pathway specific for the fratricide protein MafB.
J Arenas, L Catón, T van den Hoeven, V de Maat, J Cruz Herrero, J Tommassen
– Virulence
(2020)
11,
1701
The cell organization underlying structural colour is involved inFlavobacteriumIR1 predation
R Hamidjaja, J Capoulade, L Catón, CJ Ingham
– The ISME journal
(2020)
14,
2890
Complex photonic response reveals three-dimensional self-organization of structural coloured bacterial colonies.
L Schertel, GT van de Kerkhof, G Jacucci, L Catón, Y Ogawa, BD Wilts, CJ Ingham, S Vignolini, VE Johansen
– Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
(2020)
17,
20200196
Genetic manipulation of structural color in bacterial colonies.
VE Johansen, L Catón, R Hamidjaja, E Oosterink, BD Wilts, TS Rasmussen, MM Sherlock, CJ Ingham, S Vignolini
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2018)
115,
2652
Physically Triggered Morphology Changes in a Novel Acremonium Isolate Cultivated in Precisely Engineered Microfabricated Environments
L Catón, A Yurkov, M Giesbers, J Dijksterhuis, CJ Ingham
– Front Microbiol
(2017)
8,
1269
Toxicity and biofilm-based selection for methyl tert-butyl ether bioremediation technology.
IM Guisado, J Purswani, L Catón-Alcubierre, J González-López, C Pozo
– Water Sci Technol
(2016)
74,
2889
Fratricide activity of MafB protein of N. meningitidis strain B16B6.
J Arenas, V de Maat, L Catón, M Krekorian, JC Herrero, F Ferrara, J Tommassen
– BMC Microbiology
(2015)
15,
156

Postdoctoral researcher

Telephone number

01223 336410 (shared)

Email address

Research Interests