Dr. Marcell Nikolausz

CV / Scientific Career

Current research interests

• Renewable energies: Methane from biomass via microbiological processes
  
• Investigation of microbial communities involved in the biogas process
  
• Microbiological process optimization based on functional analysis of biogas communities
  
• Gene mining for lignocellulose-degrading enzymes in the gut system of wood-feeding arthropods

Previous research

Assessment of natural attenuation combining stable isotope and molecular biological techniques 

Related articles:
Assessment of in situ degradation of chlorinated ethenes and bacterial community structure in a complex contaminated groundwater system
Assessment of the natural attenuation of chlorinated ethenes in an anaerobic contaminated aquifer in the Bitterfeld/Wolfen area using stable isotope techniques, microcosm studies and molecular biomarkers 

Elucidation of microbial processes in the rhizosphere of constructed and natural wetland plants using different molecular tools 

Related articles:
Effect of plants and filter materials on bacteria removal in pilot-scale constructed wetlands
Diurnal redox fluctuation and microbial activity in the rhizosphere of wetland plants
Comparison of RNA- and DNA-based species diversity investigations in rhizoplane bacteriology with respect to chloroplast sequence exclusion 

Deciphering the structure and function of microbial communities in environmental systems

• Application of multiplex detection methods for different bacterial taxa by using single-nucleotide primer extension (SNuPE)
  Related articles:
  Single-Nucleotide Primer Extension Assay for Detection and Sequence Typing of "Dehalococcoides" spp.
  Evaluation of single-nucleotide primer extension for detection and typing of phylogenetic markers used for the investigation of microbial communities
  The single-nucleotide primer extension (SNuPE) method for the multiplex detection of various DNA sequences: from detection of point mutation to microbial ecology
• Application of substrate mediated isotope tracer techniques to elucidate the microbial community involved in the degradation of different xenobiotic compounds. Development of a novel concept based on radio isotope probing (RIP) and improvement of stable isotope probing via taxon specific separation of nucleic acids.
  Related articles:
  Novel approach using substrate-mediated radiolabelling of RNA to link metabolic function with the structure of microbial communities
  Sequence Specific Primer Extension RNA Analysis (SeSPERA) for the investigation of substrate utilization of microbial communities
• Development of fluorescent DGGE using multiplex labelling (link to fluorescent DGGE using multiplex labelling (41.1 KB) )

Investigations on biases associated with molecular techniques (DGGE sequence retrieval, PCR, molecular cloning) 

Related articles:
Observation of bias associated with re-amplification of DNA isolated from denaturing gradient gels
Effect of primer mismatch, annealing temperature and PCR cycle numbers on 16S rRNA gene targeting bacterial community analysis

EU-Projects

2003-2005
Marie Curie Development Host Fellow (Project: BIOISOTOPE) 

2007-2009
Marie Curie Host Fellowships for the Transfer of Knowledge (ToK) (Project: ISOTONIC)
Main participant and supervisor of a postdoctoral fellow (Alessandro Franchini)

Publications, CV

Reviewer

• FEMS Microbiology Ecology
• BioTechniques
• Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry
• Biodegradation
• Acta Biologica Hungarica
• Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
• Community Ecology