AQUASERV Conference

Gene expression pattern and level reflects to a significant extent the ongoing anatomical, morphological and physiological activities in a tissue and/or organism. My field of interest is functional genomics in Atlantic salmon with focus on the reproductive mechanisms. We currently use gene editing to knockout (KO) genes in Atlantic salmon ,  to be able to explore molecular mechanisms related to the reproductive system, in particular germ cell specification and early sexual development, and we have produced sterile fish  by ablation of the primordial germ cells or preventing maturation. Both aims explore fields which can result in sterility models for aquaculture that could solve major bottlenecks related to un-wanted sexual maturation and genetic interactions with wild populations. We have also in recent years explored the wild genome pool of Atlantic salmon with the main aim to identify genetic regions under selection for primarily reproductive traits, such as time at maturity and smoltification. However studies have also revealed genetic regions /sweeps that probably confer traits associated with disease resistance, behaviour, sea water adaption and feed metabolism.

Chris Bowler is Director of Research at the CNRS and Director of the Plant and Algal Genomics Laboratory at the Institut de biologie de l'École normale supérieure in Paris. He obtained his PhD from Ghent University in Belgium, followed by postdoctoral studies at Rockefeller University in New York. In 1994, he set up his own laboratory working on signaling in higher plants and marine diatoms at the Stazione Zoologicade Naples, Italy, and in 2002 took up his current position in Paris.

He has been a member of EMBO since 1995, received the CNRS Silver Medal in 2010, ERC Advanced Awards in 2012 and 2018 and the Fondation Louis D. de l'Institut de France Prize in 2015. In 2018, he was elected a member of the French Academy of Agriculture.

His main research interest is understanding the response of plants and marine diatoms to environmental signals, through functional and comparative genomics. He is one of the scientific coordinators of the Tara Océan project, which aims to explore the biodiversity, ecology and evolution of plankton in the world's oceans.