I have been working as a lab technician at the Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography since 2006. I’m in charge of the Cultures Lab, so I take care of the general maintenance, provide labware, update protocols and do the training, control and support of students and researchers who need to use any kind of culture techniques. I’m also responsible for the conservation and managing of the microbial collection from Blanes Bay Microbial Observatory, which includes bacteria, heterotrophic nanoflagellates and bacteriophages that must be periodically subcultured.

Apart from this general task, during these more than 10 years I have been involved in several research projects to study the marine microdiversity and their ecological role, especially between viruses and their bacterial hosts. I have also had the chance to participate in some cruises and many experiments, from the experimental design to the samples processing, passing through the experimental set up and the lab work for which I have used mainly cultivation techniques and DNA/RNA-based molecular approaches, but also others like tangential filtration, flow citometry, radiactive isotopes or microscopy.