PhD Graduation

Organohalide respiring bacteria (OHRB) are efficient degraders of organohalides such as chlorinated ethenes, chlorophenols, and other halogenated aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, these organohalides appear to persist at various locations. The reason for this lack of degradation can be attributed to the absence of OHRB in sufficient numbers or improper physico-chemical conditions for their growth and activity. Hence, there is an urgent need for fast, robust and sensitive methods that allow for predicting and monitoring the bioremediation potential and activity of OHRB. The ecogenomic toolbox that capitalizes on genomics and other high throughput approaches offers completely new avenues to study OHRB in natural environments. To this end, we studied the genomic repertoire, as well as functional gene expression patterns, in two important Gram-positive ORHB. Moreover, we applied this and other accumulating knowledge in dechlorinating bioreactors and developed advanced detection systems for ORHB that were tested in various practical field applications.

Promotor:  Prof.dr. W.M. de Vos

Co-promotor: Dr. H. Smidt