The topic of the group is research in the area of biodegradation of organic pollutants. The research is mainly focused on microbial biodegradation of persistent organic pollutants and emerging micropollutants, e.g. endocrine disruptors. The research is aimed at both basic and applied areas. Basic research is elucidating the general microbial mechanisms occurring in the environment that can degrade these foreign pollutants. Elucidation of these mechanisms helps to estimate the risk associated with the respective contamination and the fate of the pollutant in the environment. As part of the applied direction, these findings can be used in a targeted manner in the decontamination of polluted components of the environment as part of the development and optimization of remedial biotechnologies. In connection with these topics, the problem is solved at the level of identification of the participation of individual biodegradative enzymes, physiology of production of these enzymes and their gene expression, identification of transformation products, ecotoxicology of biotransformations, identification of biodegradative microbial pollution. etc. The research is significantly interdisciplinary and therefore significantly affects the field of environmental science, xenobiochemistry, analytical chemistry, ecotoxicology, molecular biology, microbiology. The expected outputs of the team are both publications in scientific journals and proven technologies and patents.
Team: