Planetary Biology Capability
SciLifeLab’s Planetary Biology capability sprung out of a need for trans-disciplinary and coordinated approaches to study life on Earth, with a broad scope ranging from single molecules and cells to individual species, species communities, ecosystems, and their functioning on the planet. Simply speaking ”Life in environmental context”.
By combining SciLifeLab infrastructure, and the data-driven life science approach with a focus on planetary biology, the capability will create opportunities with a strong impact on ecosystem science. Taking advantage of SciLifeLab’s national research infrastructure, technology, and scientific excellence, techniques such as imaging, microscopy, genomics, bioinformatics, metabolomics, proteomics, and big data analysis, for non-biomedical research will be used to shed light on all aspects of life on our planet.
Planetary Biology concept
Research in molecular life sciences allows us to describe and understand the drivers and meaning of diversity: changes that are happening, the underlying mechanisms, and the impact of those changes on ecosystems and planetary health.
Planetary Biology Conference – Linking molecules to ecosystems
The Capability held its first conference, centered around the theme “Linking molecules to ecosystems”, in Gothenburg last September.
With eight out of ten SciLifeLab Platforms represented and twelve invited speakers, the event brought together researchers from different disciplines to connect molecular and ecosystem-level studies, promoting collaboration in planetary biology.
Across two days, attendees engaged in discussions on key environmental, climate, and biodiversity issues. The program included a range of talks, poster presentations, and interactive sessions, giving participants the opportunity to share project ideas and explore future collaborations.
Planetary Biology in Almedalen 2024
During the panel debate titled “The biodiversity crisis threatens sustainability and the bioeconomy – can Swedish research be the solution?”, key points were highlighted regarding the urgent need for action and collaboration. The panel emphasized the importance of fostering innovation and cooperation between academia, industry, and policymakers to effectively address the biodiversity crisis.
Utilizing existing research infrastructure, such as SciLifeLab, and environmental monitoring of genetic diversity were identified as crucial steps toward finding solutions.
Participated in the discussion:
– Andreas Wallberg, Uppsala University
– Mats Svensson, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management
– Charlotta Berggren, ByDemand
– Olga Vinnere Pettersson, Uppsala University, Scientific Lead for planetary biology at SciLifeLab
Moderator: Anna Wetterbom, Swedish Biodiversity Data Infrastructure (SBDI)
SciLifeLab Planetary Biology Capability Survey
The Planetary Biology Capability Survey was launched in June 2023 and aimed to identify the technology-related needs of the Planetary Biology community in Sweden. This involves pinpointing obstacles hindering the use of existing SciLifeLab platforms, areas where enhancements could boost the Planetary Biology community’s access to these platforms, or the need to create new tools, protocols, or services to be offered by SciLifeLab.
A total of 79 individuals participated in the survey, representing 13 affiliations. The gathered information allowed for the identification of platforms most used among Planetary Biology researchers (NGI and NBIS), and the ones to be highly used if technical/practical barriers are solved (NGI, NBIS, and Spatial Transcriptomics). Barriers encountered by researchers included a lack of technical expertise/protocols/standards for specific samples, cost, long delivery times, and lack of specific methodology.
The informational report is in preparation and it will be used as a guide to starting the dialogue with SciLifeLab platforms aiming to discuss potential changes and developments to fulfill the needs of users working on Planetary Biology-related topics.
New tools to secure biodiversity in a changing world
Scientific Leads Olga Vinnere-Pettersson and Stefan Bertilsson highlight the importance of establishing the Planetary Biology Capability. This initiative is designed to encompass all facets of biological research, from studying molecules, metabolites, genomes, and proteins to employing cutting-edge technologies such as imaging and AI.
They emphasize the critical role of molecular tools in monitoring biodiversity, particularly in assessing how human activities impact ecosystems and biodiversity over time.
Planetary Biology in Almedalen 2023
Nya verktyg för att säkra biologisk mångfald i en föränderlig värld – vilken väg ska Sverige välja?
Jorden genomgår en biodiversitetskris. För att sätta in verksamma motåtgärder behöver vi en effektivare övervakning av biologisk mångfald än observationsstudier. En lösning är att göra DNA-analyser av miljöprover för att få information om arters närvaro och variation. Kan det vara vägen framåt?
DNA-analyser kan säkra biologisk mångfald
Interview with Olga Vinnere Pettersson
Reflections on the Seminar in Almedalen 2023
SciLifeLab Science Summit 2023, Genomics of Biodiversity and Evolution
September 20, 09:00 – 17:00
In an era characterized by extinction and habitat loss, it is crucial to explore biological diversity on our planet and understand the evolutionary processes that generate it. Genome sequencing has generated numerous insights into how species form and how they adapt to their environments, which is vital to understand in a changing world. As sequencing technologies improve and become less expensive, it becomes feasible to produce high-quality genome assemblies and analyze genetic diversity in a huge number of species, which has led to a number of ambitious projects, including the proposed Earth BioGenome Project to sequence all known Eukaryotes. Swedish scientists and SciLifeLab are at the forefront of this field, with genome projects including the pine tree, herring, Arctic fox, and 200 mammals, advancing knowledge of topics including population genetics, adaptation, speciation, convergent evolution, and functional constraint.
In this SciLifeLab Summit, we have gathered several leading researchers, who use genomics to learn about the diversity of life!
Scientific Committee
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Leif Andersson, Matt Webster, Love Dalén.
Operations office project leader: Erika Bergqvist Erkstam
SciLifeLab join European effort to map and conserve biodiversity
News, September 29 2022
A collection of top European scientists are planning to use DNA data to tackle the ongoing biodiversity crisis. As Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) partners, SciLifeLab and Uppsala University researchers will participate in a large EU-funded project that involves using genomic methods to study the human impact on biodiversity.
Workshop Heidelberg May 2022
The Planetary Biology capability kicked off with a joint SciLifeLab/EMBL workshop on the 16 and 17th of May 2022 in Heidelberg.
The workshop included talks on a broad set of themes including:
*Biodiversity genomics and reference genome sequencing
*Ecology and evolution
*Biogeochemistry & ecosystems
*Data driven planetary biology
Interview
Scientific leads for the SciLifeLab Planetary Biology capability appointed
“We hope to bridge the gap between researchers working in different disciplines: conservation, population genetics, taxonomy, evolution, metagenomics, biogeochemistry, and so on, to create a strong environment for studying ecosystems as a whole” says Olga Vinnere Pettersson
“This entails more extensive and efficient use of the full portfolio of molecular biosciences methods and infrastructure for planetary biology, with the ambition of providing deep and mechanistic understanding of how different populations, communities and ecosystems function and interact with each other and the earth system” says Stefan Bertilsson.
Olga Vinnere Petterson and Stefan Bertilsson
Contact persons
Scientific Leads for SciLifeLab Planetary Biology are Olga Vinnere Petterson and Stefan Bertilsson.
Assigned Scientific co-Leads are Anders Andersson, Nathaniel Street, and Jacob Höglund. The coordinator for the Planetary Biology is Anabella Aguilera. Please reach out with any questions or research collaboration inquiries.