Profile

PhD project: A survey of genetic mechanisms behind degradation of Environmental Endocrine Disruptors in wastewater.

University: Aarhus University Department: Department of Environmental Science

Section: EMBI, ENVS, AU;

Research group: EML, MITO, ENVS, AU

Supervisor: Anders Johansen, EMBI, ENVS, AU (Co-supervisors: Lea Ellegaard-Jensen, EMBI, ENVS, AU; Martin Hansen, MITO, ENVS, AU & Lars Hestbjerg Hansen, PLEN, SCIENCE, KU.)

Project term: 01.05.2018 – 30.04.2021

Master’s degree: MSc in Biology, specialisation in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

BACKGROUND

While most harmful substances are degraded during water treatment processes, certain chemicals in our water system have proven difficult to break down, and end up in the environment, where they bioaccumulate.
Among these contaminants of emerging concern are chemicals working as endocrine disruptors. An endocrine disruptor is any substance capable of blocking receptors, mimicking hormones or otherwise interfering with the endogenous endocrine system of living beings, thereby derailing hormonal equilibria or disrupting developmental processes. The result can be birth defects and lowered fertility rates, cancer and/or severe organ damage in affected wildlife, which may ultimately lead to population decline or even ecosystem collapse.   

Developing a method to discover the presence of contaminants, and to easily and accurately assess their effect on their immediate surroundings, will be the first step towards a solution to this centuries old issue.

AIM

The aim of my PhD project is to develop an interdisciplinary analysis pipeline able to integrate several –omics techniques into one combined analysis, thus facilitating statistically sound analysis. I will focus on discovering the diversity of microbial communities in samples, and to compare these with the chemical composition of the sample matrix. This will allow assessment of environmental threats and microbial potential in biotechnological applications, specifically bioremediation on wastewater treatment.

RESEARCH OUTLINE

This project applies a diverse suite of techniques – uHPLC and MS technology to assess compound composition in samples, hand Illumina sequencing to obtain information on microbial communities for differential analysis, to investigate the applicability of remote sampling in biomonitoring of ecosystems.