JOANNA SZRAMEL

Title: Mitochondrial metabolism and seasonality in Drosophila

Host Institution: University of Padova
Supervisor: Prof Rodolfo Costa
Secondment: University of Leicester for three months to investigate other mitochondrial phenotypes and Oxitec for two months to learn Medfly and Olive fly biology and transgenesis.

Objectives: To discover whether uncoupled respiration has evolved as a transient adaptation favouring progression of larvae into more cold‐tolerant developmental stages such as the adult. Drosophila larvae show uncoupled mitochondrial respiration at low temperatures and cannot survive, whereas adults exhibit coupled respiration and survive under these conditions by moving into diapause. This difference may be mediated by the gene Ucp4c. The project will use a genetic approach to study the signalling pathway that generates uncouples versus coupled mitochondrial respiration in Drosophila and pest species.

About me: I come from Cracow, a beautiful city in the south of Poland. I have always been fascinated by biology and wanted to be a researcher. Therefore, I decided to follow my passion and study neuroscience and biology at Jagiellonian University in my hometown. During my bachelor’s studies I got interested in chronobiology and had an opportunity to work on my thesis under supervision of a professor with a great passion for this field of science. During my masters I have gained research experience while working on circadian neuroplasticity in Drosophila melanogaster.
Besides biology I love photography, music and art.
I’m sure that this next few years in CINCHRON will allow me to develop new skills, improve my knowledge and work with wonderful people.