The PhD scholarship is available at Biosurfactant Control of Bacterial PAH Degradation in Soil, Denmark. Petroleum hydrocarbons have been extensively exploited through human activities for many years and mineral oil contaminations of soils, sediments and groundwater represent a huge problem worldwide. Bioremediation, which is the use of living (micro)organisms for removal of contaminants from the environment, is today a cost-efficient approach to treat soil and sediments contaminated by PAHs.
Importantly the limited bioavailability/bioaccessibility of the hydrophobic PAHs represents an important bottleneck leading to low rates of pollutant loss. The challenge posed by limited PAH bioavailability/bioaccessibility may be addressed by addition or in-soil production of biosurfactants.
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( votes)The aim of the PhD project is to reveal the significance of in situ production of biosurfactants in PAH-degrading bacteria for their ability to access and degrade hydrophobic oil contaminants in the soil as determined by degrader gene expression and contaminant turn-over.
The hosting laboratory has extensive experience in molecular microbial research related to soil microbiology in general and bacterial soil and rhizosphere colonization, metabolic and degradation activity, gene expression, etc.
- Study Subject: Molecular microbiology and/or molecular microbial ecology
- Employer: University of Copenhagen
- Level: PhD
Application Deadline: Closed
