Climate Talks
Discovering the world of vineyard microbes
Our next Climate Talk is a Research Edition, dedicated to the work generated by academia.
We’ll count with different experts and researchers from distinct European Universities, who will share the result of different studies, carried out from different perspectives, around the world of vineyard microbes.
We will seek to understand how our practices influence the health of our vineyards, the environment, and the wine, exploring the structure, function and management of the vineyard microbiome.
This Climate Talk will take place in the form of a hybrid event, with a live audience of students from UTAD.
The topics
The panel members are going to talk about the structure of the (vineyard) microbiome, variations in environmental conditions, characteristics of the microbiome (both the types of microbes and relative abundance) and conditions that influence composition (biotic and abiotic facilitators and stressors).
The Speakers will also address the numerous functions that vineyard microbes perform:
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- Effects on soil processes and health
- Nutrient and carbon cycling
- Hydric properties
- Disease suppression
- Production and transfer of higher-order phytochemicals
- Terroir effects
- Erosion
- Remediation
- Horizontal gene transfer
Furthermore, the panel members will also discuss how to manage the (vineyard) microbiome with direct additions (probiotics), by modifying conditions (prebiotics) and by using a “bioindicator” and, lastly, they will give recommendations for growers and winemakers.
HOST
TOM CROGHAN / USA
CO-OWNER AND WINEMAKER AT THE VINEYARDS AT DODON
Growing up on a small farm in north central West Virginia, Tom grew to appreciate the rhythms of nature, the joy of hard work, and the importance of place. He brings these early lessons, as well as those from a successful career in medicine, immunology and business, to create wines that reflect the unique soil and the site.
GUEST
KEES VAN LEEUWEN / FRANCE
PROFESSOR OF VITICULTURE AT BORDEAUX SCIENCES AGRO (BSA) AND BORDEAUX UNIVERSITY’S INSTITUT DES SCIENCES DE LA VIGNE ET DU VIN (ISVV), HEAD OF THE VITICULTURE-OENOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT BSA
Kees van Leeuwen conducts research on the concept of terroir in viticulture, including the effect of environmental constraints (water and nitrogen), phenology modeling and the impact of climate change in viticulture. The output of this research can help growers to optimize terroir expression and to adapt to a changing environment. Kees van Leeuwen is the founder and editor in chief of the viticulture section of the international peer reviewed open access journal OENO One.
GUEST
ANDREIA FIGUEIREDO / PORTUGAL
SCIENCE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF LISBON
Andreia Figueiredo (0000-0001-8156-7700) is an assistant professor at the Science Faculty of Lisbon University and the head of the Grapevine Pathogen Systems Lab. Since her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology (2007) she dedicated her research to the study of plant-pathogen interactions focusing on grapevine, through a systems biology approach by employing multi OMIC technologies, functional genomics, and biotechnology-based approaches. She is author of 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, supervised 10 Ph.D. students, 20 MSc. students and 3 post-doc trainings. She coordinated several projects, both national and international.
Her research group, the GPS Lab main aim is to unveil disease regulatory networks in grapevine but also to understand plant-pathogen and plant-microorganisms communication, aiming at improving crop resistance and achieving sustainable production through biotechnology-based approaches. GPS Lab research lines are: 1) identification characterization and engineering plant proteases to improve crop protection; 2) evaluation of lipid enrolment on grapevine-pathogen interactions and its potential as immunity elicitor; 3) identification of susceptibility/tolerance associated biomarkers; 4) characterization of host-pathogen communication on cell compartments by proteomics and metabolomics; 5) identification the impact of epigenetic modulation on plant-pathogen cross-talk; 6) understanding the impact of tailoring soil and plant microbiome to improve grapevine resilience to biotic and abiotic factors.
GUEST
ALEX GOBBI / DENMARK
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN
Dr. Alex Gobbi is an Italian scientist specialized in molecular microbiology and microbial ecology applied to Agriculture. Biotechnologist of education, in 2015, with a Marie-Curie PhD Fellowship, he moved to Denmark (Aarhus University) to study the application of advanced sequencing techniques to the wine production process. Later, during his Postdoc at the University of Copenhagen, he applied analogous techniques to polluted-groundwater bioremediation processes and to unravel the complexity of microbial interactions in wheat production. He also provides consultancies to AgTech companies and venture investment capitals.
