Elisabet Alacid

I am interested in understanding microbial interactions that characterize marine food webs and drive biogeochemical cycles, particularly parasitic associations between unicellular eukaryotes. My research focuses in understanding how Perkinsea parasites interact with their toxic bloom-forming dinoflagellate hosts at a molecular and cellular level, aiming to determine their role in the functioning of the ecosystem and in bloom termination. I am currently using omic approaches to identify cellular systems that drive such host-parasite interactions to develop a representative model of a trophic interaction network. I am also involved in the project Darwin Tree of Life, where I contribute to sampling, isolation and culturing of protist single cells from diverse aquatic environments in order to obtain high-quality reference genomes of protist species in the UK.

Selected Publications

  • In situ occurrence, prevalence and dynamics of Parvilucifera parasitoids during recurrent blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum. Alacid E, Reñé A, Camp J, Garcés E, 2017, Front. Microbiol. doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01624
  • Evolutionary trends of Perkinsozoa (Alveolata) characters based on observations of two new genera of parasitoids of dinoflagellates, Dinovorax gen. nov. and Snorkelia gen. nov. Reñé A, Alacid E, Ferrera I, Garcés E, 2017 Front. Microbiol. doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01594
  • Integrating chytrid fungal parasites into plankton ecology. Research gaps and needs. Frenken T, Alacid E, et al. 2017. Environmental Microbiology doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13827
  • Life-cycle, ultrastructure, and phylogeny of Parvilucifera corolla sp. nov. (Alveolata, Perkinsozoa), a parasitoid of dinoflagellates. Reñé A., Alacid E, Figueroa RI, Rodríguez F, Garcés E, 2017, European Journal of Protistology. doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2016.11.006a
  • A game of russian roulette for a generalist dinoflagellate parasitoid: host susceptibility is the key to success. Alacid E, Park MG, Turon M, Petrou K, Garcés E, 2016, Front Microbiol. doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00769
  • Host-released dimethylsulphide activates the dinoflagellate parasitoid Parvilucifera sinerae. Garcés E, Alacid E, Rene A, Petrou K, Simó R, 2013, ISME J. doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2012.173
  • New insights into the parasitoid Parvilucifera sinerae life cycle: The development and kinetics of infection of abloom-forming dinoflagellate host. Alacid E, Reñé A, Garcés E, 2015, Protist doi.org/10.1016/j.protis.2015.09.001
  • Dinomyces arenysensis gen. et sp. nov. (Rhizophydiales, Dinomycetaceae fam. nov.), a chytrid infecting marine dinoflagellates. Lepelletier F, Karpov SA, Alacid E, Le Panse S, Bigeard E, Garcés E, Jeanthon C, Guillou L, Protist. doi.org/10.1016/j.protis.2014.02.004

Hobbies & Interests

I thoroughly enjoy outdoor activities. I especially like walking in the countryside with my dog Nuk, preferably along the UK coast path when possible! I also like scuba-diving in the Mediterranean, playing beach volley-ball and padel Tennis. In rainy days, I enjoy watching true-crime TV series or reading novels, especially those written by Haruki Murakami and Paul Auster.