Dr. Alessia Guggisberg

Dr.  Alessia Guggisberg

Dr. Alessia Guggisberg

Lecturer at the Department of Environmental Systems Science

ETH Zürich

Professur f. Ökol. Pflanzengenetik

CHN G 23

Universitätstrasse 16

8092 Zürich

Switzerland

Additional information

Research area

 

I have recently started a project aimed at monitoring genetic changes through time and space in members of the genus Murbeckiella (Oreophytoneae - Brassicaceae). Currently, I am following three main goals:

1) Phylogeny of the genus Murbeckiella, to delineate the five species currently recognized in the genus Murbeckiella using whole-genome sequence data and morphological trait analyses.

2) Phylogeography of M. pinnatifida, to reconstruct the origin and demography of M. pinnatifida populations in the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the Alps using whole-genome sequence data.

3) Retrospective genomic monitoring of M. pinnatifida populations from the Valais/Switzerland over the last two centuries, to detect putative genomic changes resulting from demographic or adaptive processes.

 

I am also leading several digitisation projects at the United Herbaria Z+ZT. At the moment, we are preparing two new projects that are partly being financed by the ETH Library:

1) Complete inventory of the diatom collection of Friederich Meister, consisting of microscopic preparations, notebooks and glass slides.

2) Complete digitisation of the Gentianaceae holdings for an estimated total of 25,000 records to ensure the incorporation of new collections.

 

Past digitisation projects funded by the ETH Library included among others:

  • Complete inventorycall_made of the herbarium, in order to reorganise the collections according to most recent phylogenetic findings in a subsequent stage.
  • Digitisation of about 90,000 records from >2,100 species from the canton of Valais to support an ongoing "citizen-science" project (www.floravs.chcall_made).
  • Digitisation of all Brassicaceae for a total of about 82,000 records from >1,600 species from 125 countries for collection-based research.
  • Mounting and digitisation of 12,000 specimens from the herbarium of Gilbert Bocquet with a special focus on the Mediterranean.
  • Mounting and digitisation of 2,500 gatherings from the botanical field trips of Hans E. Hesscall_made to Angola in the 1950s.

 

Already processed specimens can be accessed through the database of the United Herbaria Z+ZTcall_made or GBIFcall_made.

 

Last but not least, I am in collaboration with several research groups from the University of Zurichcall_made, the University of Baselcall_made, the University of Heidelbergcall_made, and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centercall_made, which use herbarium specimens to address evolutionary questions related to crop domestication and trait evolution. I further coordinate the sampling of historical plant probes within the framework of a 3-year pilot study meant to monitor the genetic diversity of plant, fungal and animal species in Switzerland.

 

 

I completed my studies of biology at the University of Neuchâtel in 2002, and moved to the Conti Lab at the University of Zurich to obtain my PhD in 2008. Thanks to two SNSF fellowships, I then proceeded my academic training as a as a postdoctoral researcher in the Rieseberg Lab at the University of British Columbia, before finally joining the Widmer Lab at ETH Zurich in 2012.

 

Professional Experience

2016-now     Herbarium Curator of Phanerograms (Z+ZT), Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

2012-2015    Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

2011             SNSF Advanced Postdoc, Botany Department, University of British Columbia, Canada

2008-2010    SNSF Early Postdoc, Botany Department, University of British Columbia, Canada

 

Education

2003-2008    PhD student, Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Switzerland

2001-2002    MSC student, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

1997-2001    Undergrad in Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

 

Additional information

  

For information related to the United Herbaria Z+ZT, please visit our websitecall_made.

 

Course Catalogue    

 

Publications

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