Viruses are fascinating organisms located somewhere between living and not-living beings. They affect all biological processes on the planet. Biofilms are composed of a crowd of microorganisms which secrete an extracellular matrix around them to collaborate and isolate themselves from the outside world. Biofilms are a life form so common it is estimated most living beings on our planet live in biofilms. One instance of biofilms are the thick greenish or brownish mats on rocks that make you slip when you go in a river. The BIOVIR project of the RIVER lab in EPFL consists in understanding the influence of viruses on the life cycle of these river biofilms.
In the framework of this investigation, we wish to build a collection of phages (a.k.a viruses of bacteria) isolated from stream biofilms to study their natural hosts and their defense mechanisms, the counter-defense mechanisms of the phages, the positive abilities phage can add to their hosts (lysogenic conversion), etc. This mission would be the task of a highly-motivated student finishing his/her master in (micro)biology.
