Anna Carratala Ripolles

Scientist

anna.carratala@epfl.ch +41 21 69 30864 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna_Carratala

EPFL ENAC IIE LCE
CM 1 118 (Centre Midi)
Station 2
CH-1015 Lausanne

+41 21 69 30864
Website
Directory
CM 1 118

Biography

During my PhD, I mainly focused on characterizing the effect of environmental factors (namely temperature and sunlight) and disinfectants on the mortality of human viral pathogens as contaminants of aquatic environments. In addition, thanks to a research fellowship given by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, I also had the opportunity to explore the diversity of marine viruses in Mediterranean coastal waters by genetic fingerprinting and by next generation sequencing. Later on, I became interested in the long-term effect of environmental stressors on virus communities, so I joined the LCE as a postdoc to investigate the adaptation of enteroviruses to ultraviolet radiation. In the last 4 years, I have worked on developing UV-resistant viruses and characterizing their acquired phenotypic and genetic properties by combining directed evolution experiments, deep sequencing and computational biology. Out of the lab, I am passionate about scuba diving, traveling and spending time with my family and friends.

Mission

As an independent researcher in the LCE, my mission is to understand how biotic and abiotic interactions shape the genetic and functional diversity, ecology and evolution of viruses in the aquatic ecosystems. The ultimate goal of my research is to anticipate the response of viral communities (including waterborne viral pathogens) to natural and anthropogenic perturbations, such as climate change, in order to design successful remediation and control strategies.

Current work

My current research is focused on two major projects:

(I) Effect of climate adaptation on the diversity, ecology and dissemination of aquatic viruses.

Due to their high mutation rates, short generation times and high population numbers, viruses are able to rapidly adapt to multiple stressors such as antiviral drugs. In recent years, many efforts have been addressed to characterize the mechanisms affecting virus evolution and the development of resistance against antivirals. Conversely, the processes influencing the adaptation of viruses to environmental factors such as climate remain largely unknown.
We are currently living a period of climatic changes (e.g. global warming and acidification of aquatic ecosystems), and consequently, we expect important changes in the dynamics of aquatic viruses and waterborne pathogens. In order to be better prepared for the biological consequences of climate change, there is the urgent need to understand how climatic variations influence the ecology of water-related viruses.
Given this context, we are conducting multiple studies aiming to: (i) elucidate the effect of environmental variables (temperature and sunlight) on the (experimental) evolution of human enterovirus, (ii) identify the genetic signatures and mechanisms linked to the adaptation of aquatic bacteriophages and human enteroviruses to environmental variation, and (iii) evaluate the effect of climatic variables on the biogeography, epidemiology and movement of waterborne viruses (namely, hepatitis E genotypes 1 and 2) at a global scale. To develop these studies, we combine classical experimental virology with underwater robotics (in collaboration with the DISAL laboratory at EPFL), landscape genomics (in collaboration with the LASIG group at EPFL) and computational biology

(II) Insights on the ecological interactions between viruses and heterotrophic nanoflagellates.

In aquatic ecosystems, grazing of bacteria by heterotrophic nanoflagellates is one of the major causes of bacterial mortality. While it is known that virus populations are also challenged by grazing, the specific mechanisms determining the importance, preying preferences and dependence on environmental factors are not well understood. In this project, we are characterizing the removal of autochthonous bacteriophages and contaminant human viruses from marine and freshwater environments by grazers. In addition, we are investigating the influence of abiotic factors on such microbial interactions. The main aim of this project is to unravel the biological mechanisms leading to virus mortality in aquatic environments and to shed light on the effect of natural factors and pollutants on the interactions between viruses and other microorganisms. We are also exploring the potential emergence of grazing-resistance among our virus populations.

Fields of expertise

Environmental microbiology and virology
Ecology and diversity of human viruses
Directed experimental evolution of microorganisms
Water quality and disinfection
Photoinactivation of microorganisms
Microbial interactions
GIS

Professional course

Research scientist	Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry	EPFL	from April 2017.
Postdoctoral researcher	Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry	EPFL	2013-2017
Research internship	Laboratory of Integrative Biology of Marine Organisms (BIOM)	Observatoire Océanologique Banyuls sur Mer, France	February-October 2012.
Research internship	Laboratory for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology	National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands	July 2011.
Research internship	Laboratory of Compared and Environmental Virology	Institute Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	July 2010.
PhD student	Laboratory of viral contaminants	University of Barcelona	2008-2013

Education

Ph.D. Environmental Microbiology		University of Barcelona	2008-2013
Master Advanced Microbiology	Biology		2007-2008
Degree Biology		University of Barcelona	2001-2007
Open Water, Advanced and Rescue Diver			2008-2017

Publications

Under review

Community-level response to natural perturbations in open ocean planktonic ecosystems. Luigi Caputi, Quentin Carradec, Damien Eveillard, Amos Kirilovsky Eric Pelletier, Fabio Rocha Jimenez Vieira, Emilie Villar, Shruti Malviya, Eleonora Scalco, Silvia G. Acinas, Adriana Alberti, Jean-Marc Aury, Alexis Bertrand, Tristan Biard, Lucie Bittner, Martine Boccara, Jennifer R. Brum, Christophe Brunet, Anna Carratalà, Samuel Charon, Hervé Claustre, Luis Pedro Coelho, Sébastien Colin, Salvatore D'Aniello, Corinne Da Silva, Marianna Del Core et al.

Published articles

Giannakis S, Liu S, Carratalà A, Rtimi S, Bensimon M, Pulgarin C. Effect of Fe(II)/Fe(III) species, pH, irradiance and bacterial presence on viral inactivation in wastewater by the photo-Fenton process: Kinetic modeling and mechanistic interpretation. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental (2016). Zhong Q, Carratala A, Nazarov S, Guerrero-Ferreira RC, Piccinini L, Bachmann V, Leiman PG, Kohn T. Genetic, structural and phenotypic properties of MS2 coliphage with resistance to ClO2 disinfection. Environ Sci Technol. 2016 Oct 6. Editor’s choice. Carratalà A, Dionisio Calado A, Mattle MJ, Meierhofer R, Luzi S, Kohn T. Solar Disinfection of Viruses in Polyethylene Terephthalate Bottles. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2015; 82(1):279-88. Rusinol M, Fernandez-Cassi X, Timoneda N, Carratalà A, Abril JF, Silvera C, Figueras MJ, Gelati E, Rodó X, Kay D, Wyn-Jones P, Bofill-Mas S, Girones R. Evidence of viral dissemination and seasonality in a Mediterranean river catchment: Implications for water pollution management. Journal of Environmental Management. 2015; 159: 58-67. Ortega-Gómez E, Ballesteros Martín MM, Carratalà A, Fernández Ibañez P, Sánchez Péreza JA, Pulgarín C. Principal parameters affecting virus inactivation by the solar photo-Fenton process at neutral pH and µM concentrations of H2O2 and Fe2+/3+. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 2015; 174: 395–402. Calgua B*, Carratalà A*, Guerrero L, de Abreu Corrêa A, Kohn T, Sommer R, Girones R. UVC Inactivation of dsDNA and ssRNA Viruses in Water: UV Fluences and a qPCR-Based Approach to Evaluate Decay on Viral Infectivity. *Both authors contributed equally to the work. Food and Environmental Virology. 2014; 6 (4):260-268. Girones R, Carratalà A, Calgua B, Calvo M, Rodriguez-Manzano J, Emerson S. Chlorine disinfection of hepatitis E virus and human adenovirus 2 in water. Journal of Water and Health. 2014; 12(3):436-442. Rodriguez-Manzano J, Hundesa A, Calgua B, Carratalà A, Maluquer de Motes C, Rusiñol M, Moresco V, Ramos AP, Martínez-Marca F, Calvo M, Monte Barardi CR, Girones R, Bofill-Mas S. Adenovirus and Norovirus Contaminants in Commercially Distributed Shellfish. Food and Environmental Virology. 2014; 6 (1): 31-41. Verhaelen K, Bouwknegt M, Carratalà A, Lodder-Verschoor F, Diez-Valcarce M, de Roda Husman AM, Rutjes S. Virus transfer proportions between gloved fingertips, soft berries, and lettuce, and associated health risks. Int J Food Micro. 2013; 166 (3):419–425. Carratalà A, Rusiñol M, Rodriguez-Manzano J, Guerrero-Latorre L, Girones R. Environmental effectors on the inactivation of human adenoviruses in water. Food and Environmental Virology. 2013; 5(4):203-214. Bofill-Mas S, Rusiñol M, Fernandez-Cassi X, Carratalà A, Hundesa A, Girones R. Quantification of human and animal viruses to differentiate the origin of the fecal contamination present in environmental samples. Biomed Res Int. 2013; 2013:192089. Rusiñol M, Carratalà A, Hundesa A, Bach A, Kern A, Ziros P, Vantarakis A, Girones R, Bofill-Mas S. Detection and quantification of a new ovine polyomavirus to identify fecal contamination of ovine origin in the environment. Sci Total Environ. 2013. 11; 458-460C:355-360. Carratalà A, Rodriguez-Manzano J, Hundesa A, Fresno S, Girones R. Effect of temperature and sunlight on HAdV and MS2 stability as fecal contaminants on fresh produce surfaces. Int J Food Microbiol. 2013. 17; 164(2-3):128-134. Carratalà A, Rusinol M, Hundesa A, Biarnes M, Vantarakis A, Kern A, Suñen E, Girones R, Bofill-Mas S. A novel tool to trace poultry fecal contamination in the environment: specific detection and quantification of chicken/turkey parvoviruses. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2012; 78(20): 7496-9. Correa AA, Carratalà A, Monte-Barardi CR, Calvo M, Girones R, Bofill-Mas S. Chlorine Inactivation of Murine Norovirus, Human Adenovirus and Human JC Polyomavirus in seawater. Appl. Environ Microbiol. 2012; 78(18): 6450-7. Bofill-Mas, S., B. Calgua, J. Rodriguez-Manzano, A. Hundesa, A. Carratala, M. Rusiñol, L. Guerrero and R. Girones. Cost-Effective Applications of Human and Animal Viruses as Microbial Source-Tracking Tools in Surface Waters and Groundwater. Chapter in “Faecal Indicators and pathogens. Proceedings of the 2011 FIPS Conference.” Edinburgh. Royal Society of Chemistry, London. Kay, D. and Fricker, C. (Eds) (2012) p. 90-101. Rodriguez-Manzano J, Alonso JL, Ferrus MA, Moreno Y, Amoros I, Calgua B, Hundesa A, Guerrero-Latorre L, Carratala A, Rusiñol M; Girones R. Standard and new faecal indicators and pathogens in sewage treatment plants: microbiological parameters for improving the Control of Reclaimed Water. Water Sci Technol. 2012; 66 (12): 2517-23. D’Agostino M, Cook N, Di Bartolo I, Ruggeri FM, Martelli F, Banks M, Vasickova P, Kralik P, Pavlik I, Kokkinos P, Vantarakis A, Söderberg K, Maunula L, Verhaelen K, Rutjes S, de Roda Husman AM, Hakze R, Van der Poel W, Kozyra I, Rzeżutka A, Prodanov J, Lazic S, Petrovic T, Carratala A, Girones R, Diez-Valcarce M, Hernandez M, Rodriguez-Lazaro D. Multicenter collaborative trial evaluation of a method for detection of human adenoviruses in berry fruit. Food Analytical methods. 2011; 9:1-7. Guerrero-Latorre L, Carratala A, Rodriguez-Manzano J, Calgua B, Hundesa A, Girones R. Occurrence of waterborne enteric viruses in two settlements of eastern Chad: analysis of hepatitis E virus, hepatitis A virus and human adenovirus in water sources. J Water Health. 2011; 9(3): 515-524. Girones R, Ferrus MA, Alonso JL, Rodriguez-Manzano J, Calgua B, Correa AA, Hundesa A, Carratala A, Bofill-Mas S. Molecular detection of pathogens in water--the pros and cons of molecular techniques. Water Res. 2010; 44(15):4325-39. Bofill-Mas S, Rodriguez-Manzano J, Calgua B, Carratala A, Girones R. Newly described human polyomaviruses Merkel cell, KI and WU are present in urban sewage and may represent potential environmental contaminants. Virol J. 2010; 28; 7:141. Rodriguez-Manzano J, Miagostovich M, Hundesa A, Clemente-Casares P, Carratala A, Buti M, Jardi R, Girones R. Analysis of the evolution in the circulation of HAV and HEV in eastern Spain by testing urban sewage samples. J Water Health. 2010; 8(2):346-54.