GROUP STATEMENT:
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We work across disciplines which makes collaboration and communication essential.
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We make time to play in the lab and test ideas.
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We treat each other as peers and we welcome any interested students, postdocs, scholars or collaborators, regardless the branch of academic training.
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I strive to have a group reflecting the diversity seen in society and I aim to help decrease the extra hurdles STEM women and minorities are facing compared to cis-male colleagues in this otherwise wonderful world of science.
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We all have different ways of learning, we all bring different skills to the table and we all need different input to connect the dots. I am committed to create a learning space where everyone can participate.
MOLECULAR GEOBIOLOGY GROUP
SANDLAB GROUP MEMBERS
Stanislav Jelavić
Post doc.
DNA-MINERAL-MICROBE INTERACTIONS
Stan is working on DNA-mineral interactions focusing on DNA-mineral binding and stability. He will also help the initiatives of exploring the rate of gene uptake in microbes.
Approach and tools:
AFM imaging, SEM, EDX, XRD, IR-AFM, ss-ATR-FTIR, Dynamic force spectroscopy .
Xi Chen
Master student
BIOFILMS
Many microbes rely on anchoring themselves to mineral surfaces where they make biofilms enhancing their survival and facilitate gene transfers. Xi will be using her chemistry background to explore the differences in affinities between microbes and minerals and address if there is an interdependence with environmental conditions
Approach and tools:
Flow through optical microscopy, AFM imaging, SEM, EDX, force spectroscopy.
Jaime Quesada Sanz
Master student
DNA-MINERAL STABILITY IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS
Jaime will be using atomic force microscopy to investigate the nano level interactions between DNA and minerals in a range of environmental solutions. His results can be used to access DNA leaking in sediments and to improve extraction protecols for eDNA
Approach and tools:
AFM imaging, Video rate AFM and force spectroscopy.
Bia Fonseca
PhD student
PROTIN-WATER-MINERAL INTERACTIONS
Bia has a background in chemistry and heritage conservation and is using computational and experimental approaches to understand the preservation potential of proteins across time in different environmental settings. Her focus is on collagen and beta lactoglobulin.
Approach and tools:
Molecular dynamics simulations, AFM imaging and video rate AFM.
Chloé Martins
Erasmus Student
DNA INTERACTIONS WITH SOIL MINERALS
Chloé will join the work on propagation of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. She will be looking into conformation and behaviour of DNA adsorbed to soil minerals.
Approach and tools:
AFM imaging in air, in liquid and using video rate
Ioannis Kontopoulos
Post. doc
DNA IN BONE
'Ioannis' research focuses on the preservation of DNA in archaeological bone from the micro- to the molecular-level using a wide range of microscopic, spectroscopic, x-ray, and biochemical techniques.
He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), CRUMBEL project, working on burned bone.
Approach and tools:
AFM imaging, SEM, EDX, XRD, IR-AFM, ss-ATR-FTIR, Dynamic force spectroscopy .
Léa Dieudonné
Erasmus student
DNA CONFORMATION
Léa has been looking into DNA conformation on different minerals and explore how we can manipulate the DNA-mineral interaction.
Approach and tools:
AFM imaging and force spectroscopy.
Anne Rath Nielsen
PhD student
ARTIFICIAL NACRE
Composite materials are nature’s strategy for creating strong and tough materials. Anne aim to understand the mineralization dynamics of CaCO3 formation on synthetic bio-polymers to develop nacre analog materials.
Anne is currently writing up her PhD thesis.
Approach and tools:
Flow through optical microscopy, AFM imaging, SEM, EDX, Constant composition method, in-situ UV-VIS, XRD.
Kasper Primdal Olesen
Project student
HETEROGENEOUS NUCLEATION OF CaCO3
Kasper studied heterogeneous nucleation and growth of calcite on mineral surfaces and polymers present in the environment. The aim was to elucidate surfaces that inhibit and enhance calcite formation.
Approach and tools:
SEM, EDX, Constant composition, diffusion experiments.
Lasse Nikolajsen
Bachelor Student
HETEROGENEOUS CALCITE FORMATION
Lasse studied the thermo dynamic barrier to nucleation on a range of substrates. We set up nice system to study nucleation in-situ with optical microscopy under constant flow and steady state conditions.
Approach and tools:
Flow through optical microscopy, SEM, EDX, in-situ UV-VIS, XRD.
December/
Cypher VRS
Proposal writing
Rejection of 4/5 proposals submitted 2019
I am giving a heads up on GLOBEs gender initiative, and taking the opportunity to highlight that we need to check our own biases.
November/
Cypher VRS
October/
I am giving seminar at the University of Lund on mineral facilitated horizontal gene transfer and the potential for the evolution of life.
The Cypher arrives!
Proposal time! We are busy writing . We are involved in 7 proposals.
September/
Anne will defend her PhD Thesis the 27th. 14.00 Aud 2 HCØ. CPH.
I am giving an Invited Talk at GSA in Arizona, on the role of geochemistry and mineral facilitated horizontal gene transfer for the evolution of life. Session: "Effects of Mineral-Water Interface Complexity on Geochemical Processes: A Session in Honor of Mineralogical Society of America Awardee for 2018, Laura Nielsen Lammers." Congratulations Laura!
August/
Goldschmidt conference, Barcelona, Spain. Convener: Interactions between Microbes, Minerals, and Molecules Across Space and Time
Willerslev workshop, Camebridge, UK. Stan will talk about propagation of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. I will talk about mineral facilitated evolution of life.
July/
Stanislav Jelavic will join the groups as a Post Doc for 2 years. He will mainly be looking into the interactions between DNA and minerals.
Anne Rath Nielsen hands in her PhD thesis on the interplay between organic compounds and mineral surfaces. Applications from oil recovery to design of new materials.
May/
Expected onset of VYI project: Distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment: The role of mineral facilitated horizontal gene transfer.
Erasmus student Léa Dieudonné will join the group.
April/
March/
PhD opponent, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
February/
Congratulations to Ioannis Kontopoulos on our received Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship for him. Expected Onset early 2020.
January/
2019
October/
C A L E N D E R
Svend Harry Canas Weihe
Master student
Svend studied the rate of hematite reduction by the reducing bacteria Shewanella. He showed how the presence of organic compounds interfere with the mineral-microbe system paving the way for a better understanding of natural systems.
Approach and tools:
Glove boxes, ferrozine metod, TEM, SEM, EDX.
Mia Nielsen
PhD student
INORGANIC INHIBITION OF CARBONATES
Approach and tools:
SEM, EDX, Constant composition method, in-situ UV-VIS, XRD.
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