Konstantina Mitsi

I received my BSc degree in Biology from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2015. During my bachelor studies, I conducted a six month Erasmus Placement internship in the microbial biotechnology lab of Dr. Margarita Orejas in IATA-CSIC in Valencia (2012-20013), studying the rhamnose transporters of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. In 2016, I acquired my MSc degree in Biodiversity (Evolutionary Biology) from University of Barcelona. I conducted my master thesis on Podarcis lilfordi (Squamata, LACERTIDAE) gut microbiota under the supervision of Dr. Laura Baldo and Prof. Joan Lluis Pretus Real; using high-throughput sequencing techniques (Illumina MiSeq) and bioinformatic tools (QIIME pipeline). I characterized the composition of the gut microbiota in different endemic populations of this species, I investigated the factors that impact the dynamics of these microbial communities focusing mainly on geographic structure and diet and I explored potential signature of these lizards recent diversification by looking at shared components of their microbiota (i.e. the core).

During the period 2016-2019 I will conduct my PhD research project “Uncultured opisthokonts and the origin of metazoan multicellularity” under the supervision of Dr. Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo in the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF, Barcelona). As SINGEK ESR 3, I will analyze genome and transcriptomic data from uncultured opisthokont taxa in order to understand the origin and evolution of genes involved in multicellularity, the opisthokont diversity and evolution, and the phylogenetic relationships of the opisthokonts.