Tran Hoa Duan

Contact/address

e-mail:

Tel.: +49 341 235 1412
Fax: +49 341 235 1443

Department of Isotope Biogeochemistry
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstrasse 15
04318 Leipzig
Germany

Tran Hoa Duan

Academic Background

Since 4/2010 PhD student in the Department of Isotope Biogeochemistry
2003 Master in microbiology, Hue University, Vietnam
1998 Graduated in microbiology, Hue University, Vietnam

Research

Dioxins are sub-products in the manufacture of organochlorides, in the incineration of chlorine-containing substances such as PVC, in the bleaching of paper, volcanoes and forest fires. In Vietnam War, Agent Orange containing dioxins was sprayed on many rain forests, fields as a deforestation means and some of airfields were employed as stores containing the toxic chemicals by the USA army. The consequence of dioxins use has existed although the war had gone for over 36 years.
The PhD’s project focuses on explore the capacity bacteria that preferentially remove singly or isolated flanked chlorine subtituents. The bacteria are isolated from dioxins-contaminated soil in Vietnam and sediments in Germany and Vietnam. They can dehalogenate highly halogenated organic compounds to less or no halogenated subtiuents by using halogenated organic compounds as electron acceptors for respiration. Therefore, researching and applying the bacteria to dioxins or other persistent organic pollutants-contaminated sites in situ might have a great potential for bioremediation.