Microbiology, Parasitology and Biotechnology

Academic and research staff are actively involved in the following areas:

• Metagenomic analysis of extreme marine environments and further microbial habitats rich in industrially-relevant enzymes, e.g. gastrointestinal tracts of plant biomass-depleting animals and on their prospecting for new enzymatic activities.
• Genome and OMICS studies and applications of marine hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria.
• Characterizing microbial polysaccharide (lignocellulose) decomposition in terrestrial, aquatic and managed environments and the biotechnological application of novel glycosyl hydrolase enzymes. Isolation and cultivation of novel cellulolytic bacterial strains.
• Sources, ecology and fate of human microbial pathogens (bacterial and viral) in estuarine environments and their interactions with nutrients, suspended particulate material (flocs), sediments and shellfish.
• Functional and genomic analysis of bacterial species associated with Acute Oak Decline.
• Developing improved methods for quantifying the diversity and abundance microbial taxa in the environment.
• Extremophile microbiology – focussing on the diversity and application of microbial life that thrives in extremely acidic environments.
• Biomining – developing new “green” technologies for extracting metals from mineral ores.
• Bioremediation of metal- and acid-contaminated environments, coupled with developing new approaches for recovering and recycling metals from wastes
• Parasitic and symbiotic mites and lice of humans, primates and other animals, especially follicular mites; biology, microbiology, co-evolution and genomics
• Endo- and ectosymbiotic bacteria of terrestrial and marine invertebrates; minimal genomes and their application in synthetic biology
• Molecular parasitology of Leishmannia and Toxoplasma