PhD Students

I am a molecular biologist with experience in bacterial nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) and methods connecting to them. The purpose of my doctoral studies is to investigate the microbial interactions in soil bacteria governed by secondary metabolites (SMs). The production of SMs is generally studied without the social context of bacteria. We would like to put bacterial interactions into this social context and to unravel not only the pathways but also the purpose of SM production. To reach this goal members of Pseudomonas, Actinobacteria, and Bacilli will be employed to further broaden our understanding of SM induction, production, and overall their natural roles in the soil community.

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As a biotechnology engineer, I have expertise within the field of synthetic biology with specific focus on molecular tools, but generally also have a very broad profile reaching into various fields of the biological sciences.
My current project work revolves around combining synthetic biology with chemical ecology. My aim is to construct and fine-tune bacterial whole-cell biosensors for in situ monitoring of secondary metabolites in soil and rhizosphere microbiomes.
In future projects, I will investigate the metabolite-based interactions between plants and their associated microbiome by using various regulatory circuits in biosensor arrays as well as synthetically designed gene regulatory elements.  

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I am a biochemist with broad experience in molecular microbiology and methods for genome engineering of various microbes, most prominently CRISPR-based techniques.
The aim of my project within CeMiSt is to increase our understanding of the biochemical “fate” of secondary metabolites (SMs) as they undergo chemical changes (e.g. modification, inactivation, or degradation) by different members of the natural microbial community. This phenomenon, known as “biotransformation”, is believed to be common and widespread, but in most cases the underlying molecular mechanisms and the ecological role remain unknown.
The project will take a multi-disciplinary approach combining methods of microbiology, natural chemistry, molecular biology, and bioinformatics.

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I am a chemist with ample experience in NMR spectroscopy-based structure elucidation.  My PhD project entails exploring the use of NMR as an analytical tool for the delineation of complex mixtures of organic compounds of biological origin. The aim is to assess and monitor metabolomic response profiles to external stimuli or genetic modifications with a focus on understanding any systematic changes using statistical means. The project involves establishing appropriate and systematic sample development procedures and NMR experiment parameter sets for metabolomics as well as introducing 13C and 15N isotopes to study biosynthesis and potentially track biotransformation of secondary metabolites. The findings of the project will be corroborated with orthogonal omics data obtained within CeMiSt.

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I am a biotechnologist with a background in whole genome sequencing of soil bacteria, particularly actinobacteria. As a PhD student at CEMIST, I will study the biosynthetic potential of soil bacterial communities and the expression of biosynthetic gene clusters found in these communities.

This will primarily be done by hybrid sequencing, using a combination of Oxford Nanopore and Illumina sequencing, to create metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data from soil samples and model communities.

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My project utilizes advanced long-read metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to unlock the biosynthetic potential of microbiomes in marine and sandy sediments from the east coast of Sjælland, Denmark in collaboration with CeMiSt researchers. Nanopore sequencing will be employed to generate high-fidelity, long-read sequences of the entire microbiome. By analyzing both the complete genetic information and active gene expression within these communities, we aim to understand how small molecules influence their assembly and development. This approach will facilitate the discovery of novel natural products with promising applications in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.