University of Lausanne, Switzerland
In collaboration with the Swiss Foreign Ministry, EPFL has established the Transnational Red Sea Center with core mission to study and protect the unique Red Sea coral reef ecosystems through a broad, international research effort. This Center will unite scientists from the Middle East region and serve as an example of ‘Science for Diplomacy and Diplomacy for Science’. Direct diplomatic and political collaboration at the highest level between the nations that are fortunate to have this reef on their shores must be brokered in order to ensure effective environmental policies, laws, and monitoring to protect the reef. This is achievable with the diplomatic assistance of countries like Switzerland.
Anders Meibom uses correlated EM and subcellular level isotopic imaging (NanoSIMS) to study the metabolic interactions in corals (and other photosymbiotic marine organisms) under homeostatic as well as environmental stress conditions.
Working together with Israeli and Saudi Arabian colleagues, it has recently been discovered that the corals in the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba are extremely resistant to thermal stress and might be the ‘last reef standing’ at the end of this century.
A direct outcome of this work has been the establishment of the Transnational Red Sea Center, which he leads.
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