Aquaculture

Laura Sempere Bea [former visitor]

Visitor

Current research

Currently, I am doing my PhD at Aquaculture Institute of Torre de la Sal (IATS–CSIC) in Castellón, Spain under the supervision of Alicia Felip Edo, a senior scientist in the Fish Reproductive Physiology Group at IATS.

The main objective of my PhD project is to study the genetic architecture of sexual maturity (puberty) in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) under rearing conditions. I am also exploring the occurrence of the early onset of puberty in female sea bass and assessing the genomic and physiological factors influencing the relationship between body size and maturation of female fish based on transcriptomic analysis (RNA-seq).

I am interested in the identification of differential gene expression and SNPs between faster- and slower-growing females in the muscle and liver, as they pertain to gonadal maturity. Additionally, I want to characterize the genomic location responsible for body size variations in sea bass and analyse the genomic regions for those genes contributing to the variation in growth and maturation to elucidate the relationship between these traits. According to the transcriptomic study and bioinformatic analysis that I have to carry out in my project, I am visiting Dr Diego Robledo at the Roslin Institute in order to learn skills in transcriptomics and bioinformatics as well as in genetics and genomics in fish.

 

Favourite aquaculture species

European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax).

 

Background

  • [2013 – 2017]                   BSc in Marine Science (Universidad de Alicante, Spain)
  • [2017 – 2018]                   Internship contract (IATS – CSIC)
  • [2018 – 2020]                   MSc in Aquaculture (Universidad de Vigo, Spain)
  • [2020 – 2021]                   Research Assistant (IATS – CSIC)
  • [2021 – Present]             PhD in Animal Production Science and Technology (IATS – CSIC).

 

Interests, hopes and dreams

Apart from science, I like cooking healthy recipes, exercising and science fiction stories.