Thesis supervisor: Tibor Benedek
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Gödöllő Abbreviation of location of studies: SZIE
Description of the research topic:
Biofilm formation is an ancient (appears early in the fossil record ~3.25 billion years ago) and integral component of the prokaryotic life cycle which confers protection for cells to survive in the most diverse harsh environments and ability to colonize new habitats. The three-dimensional structure of these dynamically complex biosystems protects the related organisms against biocidal agents, toxic chemicals and environmental perturbations like extreme temperatures, pH, dehydration, salinity, exposure to ultraviolet light etc. Due to their high resistance against environmental challenges, microbial mats are ubiquitous and can cause serious concerns in hospital as well as in industrial environments. Although their presence can be associated with a series of problems, biofilms due to the variety of microniches (aerobic, microaerobic and anaerobic compartments) show high microbial diversity, which is associated with high metabolic versatility. These properties can be exploited in biofilm based wastewater treatment or in the breakdown/transformation of toxic organic/inorganic pollutants. In this context, semipermeable biofilm based reactive barriers (biobarriers) are apt for decontamination and containment of groundwater streams impacted with pesticides, radioactive materials, heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons etc. Biobarriers accordint to U.S. EPA are amongst the most sustainable and green alternatives for expensive pump-and-treat systems.
The research goal is to obtain a strain collection of prolific biofilm forming and/or good petroleum hydrocarbon (aliphatic, simple aromatic and polycyclic aromatic) degrading biofilm bacteria, which subsequently can be used for development of innovative biofilm based semipermeable reactive barriers. Further research aim is to establish and test a laboratory scale biofilm based semipermeable model-system which provide space for testing at laboratory scale biobarrier based elimination of polluting hydrocarbons from water streams.
Number of students who can be accepted: 1
Deadline for application: 2018-05-31
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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