Eleonora Cariolato

I’m an Italian marine biologist with a background in Natural Science, who graduated in 2020 with the International Master Degree in Marine Biological Resources (IMBRSea) from the University of Ghent (Belgium).

During my master, I had the opportunity to study at three different universities, The University of Oviedo (Spain), the Sorbonne University (France) and the University of Ghent (Belgium), where I carried out my master’s thesis on population genomics of the Antarctic bivalve Laternula elliptica.

I joined the Marine Freshwater Research Centre in September 2021 with a PhD project in collaboration with An Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) that aims to investigate the population genomics of the blue mussels complex (Mytilus spp.) in Ireland. The project focuses on the genetic composition of wild and farmed mussels stock, the level of introgression of the Mediterranean M. galloprovincialis with the Atlantic M. edulis, as well as their adaptative potential (i.e., gene expression response) to different environmental conditions.

My main interests include marine ecology with a focus on population genomics and adaptation to aid sustainable aquaculture practices and conservation management strategies, employing different molecular techniques and genetic markers such as SNPs.

Project Title
Disentangling genetic structure and adaptive potential of mussels (Mytilus spp) in Irish waters to understand native vs invasive species dynamics and enable sustainable seafood production
The main aim of this project is to disentangle genetic structure and adaptive potential of mussels in Irish waters to understand native vs non-indigenous species dynamics and enable sustainable seafood production.