Environmental Microbiology

Environmental Microbiology Group moved into the Department of Earth Sciences in 2005. The group had previously been part of Engineering Science and had been working on the engineered applications of microbiology for environmental remediation and biocatalysis. The move to Earth Sciences was prompted by new opportunities to develop further cross-disciplinary research with geochemists and mineralogists, in particular exploiting developments in biochemical and isotope geochemical techniques.

The group has a range of research interests in Biogeochemistry including:

  1. Behaviour of metals in the environment and the role of microbial processes, with a specific focus on Uranium and Mercury.
  2. Nutrients and biogeochemical cycles. Exploiting biochemical and isotope techniques to understand the role of microbes in environmental processes.
  3. Engineering of biological processes for bioremediation and biocatalysis. This includes links with a spin-out company, EKB Technology, established from earlier research.

The group has research links with Ministry of Defence, Buckingham Group, Terrsula, Forest Research, Water Technology Centre, Karlsruhe and the Universities of Surrey, Leeds and Bristol. Funding from NERC, EPSRC, MoD, Buckingham Group and the Rhodes Foundation.

Reports have been generated on:

  1. A national research strategy for contaminated land (Environmental KTN) which was incorporated into EPSRC and NERC strategies.
  2. Mercury contamination at Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, for MoD.

The Environmental Microbiology Group has strong collaborative partnerships with the knowledge exchange activities of the Environmental KTN. These include the knowledge exchange initiatives:

  1. IKIMP: Integrating Knowledge to Inform Mercury Policy
  2. PREPARE: Pharmaceutical Release to the Environment during Pandemics and Regional Epidemics