Coordinator's editorial

Colomban de Vargas is Research Director at the CNRS and leads the Evolution of Plankton and Pelagic Ecosystems (EPPE - UMR 7144) team at the Roscoff Marine Station. He completed his doctorate in molecular and phylogenetic evolution in 2000 at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

His research focuses on the rules of evolution in planktonic ecosystems. He was a pioneer in the combined use of genetic, morphological and geological data to assess biodiversity change modes in unicellular planktonic eukaryotes, also called protists.

After a Master in Tahiti and a PhD in Geneva on the evolution of foraminifera, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University, USA, where he studied population genetics and micropaleontology (2000-2002). Later, Colomban de Vargas led his first research team at Rutgers University, working on phytoplankton biodiversity and physiology (2003-2005).

In 2006, Colomban de Vargas joined the CNRS and put together the EPPE team at the Roscoff Marine Station. This research group uses high throughput DNA sequencing and imaging techniques for a comprehensive understanding of planktonic ecosystems.

Colomban de Vargas coordinated French, European and American research projects, including the Eranet BioMarKs project (Biodiversity of Marine euKaryotes (2009-2012)). He also leads the Protist Working Group (ProWG)  which is part of the international Consortium for the Barcoding of Life (CBOL).  With Eric Karsenti, Gaby Gorsky and Chris Bowler, he initiated the Tara Oceans expedition (2009-2012)

Colomban de Vargas is now the scientific coordinator of the Investissements d’Avenir project OCEANOMICS, based on the samples and data collected during the Tara Oceans expedition.