Luc Ector Bursary Award – Sulastri Arsad
Back in 2012, my journey with diatoms began during my master’s study in France, where I worked on the blue diatom Haslea ostrearia under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Luc Mouget. The unique pigment produced by H. ostrearia fascinated me and inspired me to continue working on diatoms. Thanks to Prof. Mouget, I joined the GHaNA project (Genus Haslea, New Marine Resources for Aquaculture) 2017–2022, funded by the MSCA-RISE-EU. This project introduced me to the late Prof. Andrzej Witkowski, and starting from October 2022, I have been pursuing my PhD at Doctoral School and at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences of the University of Szczecin, Poland.
My PhD thesis focuses on the biodiversity of marine diatoms from Sulawesi (Celebes) Island, Indonesia, using both morphological and molecular approaches. Being originally from Sulawesi, I am deeply curious about its rich biodiversity. Sulawesi, one of Indonesia’s five largest islands and the largest in Wallacea, is part of a global biodiversity hotspot. Its complex coastline adds to its unique ecosystem. Despite this, the biodiversity of diatoms in Sulawesi remains poorly studied and is believed to be very high and rich in species new to science.
Under the supervision of Dr. hab. Małgorzata Bąk and Dr. Romain Gastineau, my thesis involves field sampling and laboratory experiments. Diatoms are observed, identified, and documented using light and scanning electron microscopy. Monoclonal cultures are derived from natural samples in order to perform molecular analysis that include molecular barcoding by PCR and Sanger sequencing and also NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing). Sampling campaigns in Sulawesi have already resulted in the description of the new genus Wallaceago and the species Wallaceago porostriatus sp. nov. (Luthfi et al., 2024), as well as six species of Olifantiella (Rybak et al., 2023). Now, I am working on the morphological and molecular data of Caloneis cf. egena. A more global work on biodiversity is on progress.
Thanks to the Luc Ector Bursary award 2024, a third sampling campaign will take place in early 2025, following those conducted in 2022 and 2023. The result of my research will disseminate through conferences and journal publications, supported in part by ISDR grant. For more details about my research activities, it is reachable through my ResearchGate profile.