In Abisko in the north of Sweden in June 2022, a fun and interesting meeting took place with the GMOS-train project members. Luisa Malberti, the ESR#3 of GMOS, full of the joys of summer returned with fresh ideas to her usual lab activities at GET in Toulouse, France.
Her goals for this period? To finish the the isotopic measurements of C13 from the photochemical experiment samples and start writing an article about her findings!
Next on the agenda, the abiotic methylation of inorganic mercury (iHg) with methylcobalamin (MeCob) experiments. The training and experimental conditions to be studied in abiotic methylation with MeCob started at the Stockholm University (SU) in November 2021, as part of Luisa’s secondment with Sofi Jonsson (GMOS-train supervisor) and Johannes West (external GMOS PhD). Abiotic methylation constitutes the second process to be characterized from the isotopic perspective of mercury (Hg) and carbon (C) stable isotopes during her PhD. The preliminary results obtained at the SU were very promising: up to 80% of iHg was methylated and only the monomethylmercury (CH3Hg+) spicies was observed to be formed under the studied condition. She is very excited about these experiments!
At the same time but not less important, she and her supervisors started the meetings to plan and organize the secondment in Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (UPPA, Pau, France) to take place this fall 2022. This secondment has as target to run experiments to observe and study the biotic methylation of iHG in collaboration with David Amouroux, Rémy Guyoneaud (GMOS-train supervisors) and Jinping Xue (external GMOS PhD).
Ohh, of course, as well as most of the members of the GMOS-train project, the ESR#3, Luisa Malberti, participated in the ICMGP 2022 with the presentation of a poster titled « Carbon and mercury stable isotope fractionation during aqueous CH3Hg+ photoreduction »
