Dear Biology Students, Postdocs, and Faculty,
Next week for our Faculty Seminar Series at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, January 12th, we will have a talk by Dr. Uri Sheyn of the Department of Biological Sciences Virginia Tech, USA. Dr. Uri Sheyn will present a talk titled ““From Virocells to Ocean Patterns, A Single-Cell View of Viral Infection”.
Talk Abstract:
Viruses play a central role in shaping aquatic ecosystems, yet their impacts are often
inferred from population averages that obscure underlying cellular heterogeneity. In this
seminar, I present a single-cell framework for understanding viral infection across
phytoplankton systems, from acute lytic infection to viral genome integration.
Using single-cell transcriptomics and mRNA imaging, I show that viral infection
proceeds through discrete cellular programs that define distinct virocell states, providing
a mechanistic framework that links intracellular regulation to emergent biological
patterns. These states rewire host physiology and help explain how infection influences
bloom dynamics and vertical redistribution of bloom biomass in the ocean. I further
demonstrate that integrated viral genomes in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii exhibit
heterogeneous expression states at the single-cell level, revealing viral strategies that
are difficult to interpret from bulk data alone.
I conclude by outlining how these approaches can be extended within the Technion’s
interdisciplinary research environment to resolve how viral infection reshapes
interactions among microbes, linking cellular infection states to community organization
and ecosystem-scale patterns.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Maya
