Global Change and Genomic Biogeochemistry

The Global Change and Genomic Biogeochemistry group focuses its research on the anthropogenic organic component of the carbon and nutrient cycles at regional and global scale. This research is focused on the marine environment, from coasts to global oceans, and in polar environments, mainly in Antarctica.

The research approach combines the use of intensive field work in oceanographic campaigns, combining chemical analysis of anthropogenic compounds in seawater and organisms (plankton, bacteria, krill), characterization of the sources (atmospheric, currents…), the biogeochemistry of anthropogenic organic compounds, and the microbial-pollutant mutual interactions addressed through metagenomic and molecular approaches. The group is international leader on Oceanic and Antarctic research, with contributions addressing the transport, occurrence and fate of anthropogenic chemicals in all oceans, the role of biodegradation mitigating marine pollution, the comparison of the fate of plastics and plasticizers, and the influence of organic pollutants on microbiome’s structure and function. The research group has also made important contributions on the atmospheric deposition of organic compounds in the oceans and the polar regions (both Arctic and Antarctica).

The research group combines scientists with expertise on environmental organic chemistry and microbial biogeochemistry and environmental genomics, and its evolution in recent years has involved the merging of chemical and metagenomic approaches to study the biogeochemistry of anthropogenic organic chemicals, their biodegradation by natural microbiomes and their effects on the major anthropogenic cycles of carbon and phosphorus.