Title: Xanthorhodopsin proton pumps and how they support diatoms in the oceans

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Mock（School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia）

Time: May 6, 2024 at 10:00 AM

Venue: Academic Report Hall, Yuejin Building

Introduction of the speaker: Prof. Thomas Mock works in the fields of evolution, cell biology, reverse genetics and genomics with marine algae and their microbiomes (e.g., prokaryotes, viruses) from the global upper ocean to understand their ecology, (co-)evolution and adaptation. This work leads to the identification of biological mechanisms that shape the evolution of algal microbiomes and are therefore responsible for their adaptation to different environmental conditions including climate change. He pioneered contributions that advanced the field of algal research through method development (e.g., CRISPR/Cas-based genome engineering, ribosome profiling) and multi-omics approaches. Prof. Mock published highly cited articles in Nature, Nature Methods, Science, Cell, PNAS, and Nature Communications. He is co-editor in chief of the ‘Journal of Phycology’. He was elected to the Royal Society of Biology and the Higher Education Academy in the UK. In 2019, he was appointed Guest Professor of the Ocean University of China, and in 2022, he has received the Qilu Friendship award. In 2023, he became honorary citizen of the Shandong Province.