Doctoral defence in Biology - Sébastien Matlosz

Date: Friday 21st of June at 11:00-13:00 in Aðalabygging, Hátíðarsalur

Title: Diversity of DNA methylation signals in teleosts with focus on the sympatric Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) morphs of Thingvallavatn.

Speaker: Doctoral candidate: Sébastien Léon Tadeus Matlosz

Opponents:
Dr. Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser, Professor at the University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr. Kristinn Pétur Magnússon, prófessor við Háskólann á Akureyri 

Advisor: Dr. Zophonías Oddur Jónsson, Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland

Other members of the doctoral committee:
Dr. Sigríður Rut Franzdóttir, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland
Dr. Arnar Pálsson, Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland
Dr.Robert Hindges, Professor at King’s College London

Chair of Ceremony:
Dr. Snæbjörn Pálsson, Professor and Head of the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland 

Abstract
For their sensitivity to environmental variables, their impact on early developmental processes and their importance to the establishment of multiple phenotypes, epigenetic mechanisms have been increasingly studied during the last decades. Like other molecular processes at play in building and shaping adaptive diversity, they can be studied over a wide range of species at different taxonomic levels. Broader levels, such as within vertebrate groups, allow for the identification of signals that have over time become assimilated while narrower levels, such as within species morphotypes, allow for the identification of molecular signals in the first stages of speciation, which might get lost over longer evolutionary periods. The four Arctic charr morphs of Lake Thingvallavatn are an example of morphotypes within species,and are a useful tool to assess molecular differences between recently diverged groups. In this thesis, I investigated DNA methylation and gene expression differences between these four morphs during early development (Paper I), I identified correlations between the divergence of genome, transcriptome, and methylome in three of these morphs (Paper II) and I reviewed the state of knowledge about DNA methylation reprogramming in teleosts (Paper III). This jointly adds an important perspective to the field of evolutionary and developmental epigenetics.

About the doctoral candidate
After graduating with a Bachelors degree in “Biology” at the University of Lorraine (FRANCE) in 2014, Sébastien completed his Masters in “Biosciences and Health Engineering” at the same University in 2017. It is during his Masters studies Sébastien consolidated his interest for molecular biology, more specifically the field of epigenetics.

Sebastien’s love for travelling led him to do two internships in the Arctic charr research group at the University of Iceland in 2016-2017, during which he set up an RRBS workflow to analyse methylation patterns in charr. At the end of 2017, Sébastien started his doctoral studies at the University of Iceland. Outside of his research work, Sébastien enjoys reading books and composing music.