BIOGRAPHY:
Laura is from Spain. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Master’s degree in Water Quality Techniques and Sciences from Granada University.
At the Water Research Institute (Granada University, Spain), Laura worked on bacteria biofilm formation and its capacity to biodegrade methyl tert-butyl ether for Prof. Clementina Perez (https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2016.461). Afterwards, she performed research on a novel protein secretion system in pathogenic Neisseria under Prof. Jan Tommassen (Utrecht University, Netherlands) (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-015-0493-6, https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2020.1851940).
Laura worked as a research assistant at Microdish B.V. and Hoekmine B.V. from 2014-2018 (https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01269, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1716214115).
Laura has a great interest in bacteriology (environmental & molecular microbiology) and the study of its biotechnological and bioremediation applications. Laura is particularly keen on an industrial doctoral program. She was awarded an industrial CASE PhD scholarship in collaboration with Hoekmine B.V. (Dr. Colin Ingham) and joined Vignolini’s group in 2018.
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.