Lisa Tanet defended her thesis

Lisa Tanet (MEB team) defended her thesis on 7 May at 14:00 in a vioconference. Congratulations!

On the following topic: "Bacterial bioluminescence, from the oceans to Biolum-Archi: a fascinating biological phenomenon at the service of a model of sustainable Mediterranean habitat"...

Thesis Director: Christian Tamburini, CNRS Research Director
Co-director: Laurence Casalot, Research Fellow IRD

Resume: This research work, carried out from December 2016 to November 2019, was funded by the SUD-PACA region, within the framework of the Young Doctoral Student Employment funding scheme. The company Tangram Architects, an architecture, urban planning and landscape agency, is the regional economic partner of this project.

For this new interdisciplinary project, my thesis work mixed fundamental and applied research, and focused on the following problem: can bacterial bioluminescence be used in the service of a sustainable habitat model? Can we integrate this natural light into our daily lives, both outdoors and indoors, through the use of bioluminescent elements? Within the laboratory, my work has been a first approach to the application of bacterial bioluminescence. All the experiments carried out during this thesis were performed on the laboratory's model strain, Photobacterium phosphoreum ANT-2200. During this PhD, in view of an application, we sought to improve the conditions of emission of bacterial bioluminescence and to perpetuate it over time.

This manuscript consists of (i) a first introductory chapter on the phenomenon of bioluminescence, including a literature review on the ecological importance of bioluminescent bacteria in the marine environment; (ii) a second chapter on the study of the regulation of light emission of the model strain; (iii) a third chapter focusing on the effects of oxygen on the physiology of the model strain via the use of culture platforms allowing controlled and regulated conditions; (iv) and a fourth chapter gathering information relating to an application of bacterial bioluminescence and the prototypes developed during this thesis. In this last chapter, the advantages, as well as the current limitations, of using bioluminescence as a source of illumination are stated.

The results obtained during my Ph.D. highlighted initial elements of response and led to new knowledge on the strain used, and on bioluminescent bacteria in general. This work is intended to be continued and deepened by further research, even more oriented towards a practical and applied objective of bioluminescence.