During my PhD, I mainly focused on characterizing the effect of environmental factors (namely temperature and sunlight) and disinfectants on the stability of human viral pathogens as contaminants of aquatic environments. In addition,I developed a novel source tracking tool to identify avian fecal contamination in environmental samples. 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. For 4 years, I worked on developing UV-resistant viruses and characterizing their acquired phenotypic and genetic properties by combining directed evolution experiments, deep sequencing and population genetics. Out of the lab, I am passionate about nature, traveling and scuba diving.
Mission
My mission is to understand how natural environmental factors and human activities influence the composition, ecology and functioning of microbial communities, including contaminant pathogens. The ultimate goal of my work is to promote a sustainable development and to preserve the ecosystems from a microbial point of view.
Current work
My current research is focused on the following topics:
(I) Removal of human contaminant viruses by heterotrophic nanoflagellates in the aquatic ecosystems.
(II) Role of land use on the presence of biological and chemical pollution in the Rhone and Ganges rivers.
(III) Exploring the presence, diversity and pathogenicity of human contaminant viruses in stream biofilms.
(IV) Influence of topography on the spatial dissemination of human contaminant viruses.
Parcours professionnel
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
Compétences
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
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.
