Ph. D. Student
Department of Integrative Marine Ecology (EMI)
Tel.: +39 081 5833XX
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Director of Studies: Dr Vittoria Roncalli
Internal Supervisor(s): Dr Isabella D’Ambra
External Supervisor: Dr Daniel Justin Mayor
Program: PhD Open University, XXVI cycle
Research Interests
Zooplanktonic organisms, among the oldest metazoans on the Planet, are key components of the marine food chain in the energy transfer and in the maintenance of the global carbon cycle in the oceans. Over the years they have evolved many evolutionary strategies allowing them to survive and reproduce in response to changing environmental pressures. My research focuses on one of these strategies, diapause, a period of controlled dormancy that represents one of the secrets of certain copepods’ success. This type of genetically controlled dormancy is characterized by a reduction in metabolic rates, arrest of development, and increased protection against stress. My PhD project aims to understand embryonic diapause in copepods from the Mediterranean Sea using a combination of transcriptomics, confocal microscopy, and fatty acid analysis.
Selected Publications
Ascione, D.; Carotenuto, Y.; Lauritano, C.; Roncalli, V. Folate-Mediated One-Carbon Metabolism in the Crustacean Copepod Calanus finmarchicus: Identification of Transcripts and Relative Expression across Development. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2024, 12, 786. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12050786
