Dr. Chang Ding

Contact / Address:

chang.ding@ufz.de


Phone: +49 341 6025 2487

Office: Building 1.0, Room 113

Chang Ding

Curriculum Vitae

2023– Group leader "Anoxic Microbial Transformation"
Department Molecular Environmental Biotechnology, UFZ
2018–2023 Scientist, UFZ
2015–2018 Humboldt Research Fellow, UFZ
2014–2015 Postdoctoral Researcher, National University of Singapore, Singapore
2014 Ph.D.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
National University of Singapore, Singapore
2008 Bachelor of Engineering
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering (School of Environment)
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Research interests

  • Microbial processes (primarily anoxic/anaerobic) that are of environmental relevance (contaminant removal, resource recovery)
  • Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) and other novel processes in the nitrogen cycle
  • Energy-efficient and resource-recovering wastewater treatment
  • Transformation of trace organic contaminants in engineered systems under different redox conditions (constructed wetlands, marsh plant roof, bank filtration systems)
  • Reactor techniques: automated reactors with fine controls, sensors, cultivation of fastidious microorganisms
  • Proteomics: metaproteomics, protein stable isotope probing, limited proteolysis mass spectrometry

For more details, please refer to the group page of "Anoxic Microbial Transformation".

  1. Klaes S.*, White C., Alvarez-Cohen L., Adrian L., Ding C. (2025):
    De novo assembled databases enable species-specific protein-based stable isotope probing of microbiomes without prior knowledge of the community composition
    bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2024.11.25.625156
  2. Ude E.O., Sure P., Rimjhim R., Adrian L., Ding C.* (2025):
    Fractionating proteins with nitrite-reducing activity in "Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis" strain CSTR1
    Frontiers in Microbiology. 16, 1483703
  3. Schmidt T., Ding C., Moreno-Chicano T., Granatino P., Nickel J., Zimmermann S., Adrian L., Dietl A.*, Barends T.* (2025):
    Roles of acyl carrier proteins in ladderane fatty acid producing-organisms
    Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects. 1869, 130763
  4. Pan M., Colpo R.A., Roussou S., Ding C., Lindblad P., Krömer J.O.* (2025):
    Engineering a photoautotrophic microbial coculture toward enhanced biohydrogen production
    Environmental Science & Technology. 59, 337-348
  5. Liu Y., Rohwerder T.*, Bonatelli M.L., von Postel T., Kleinsteuber S., Adrian L., Ding C.* (2024):
    A novel sulfatase for acesulfame degradation in wastewater treatment plants as evidenced from Shinella strains
    Environmental Science & Technology. 58, 18892–18902
  6. Akay C., Ulrich N., Rocha U., Ding C., Adrian L.* (2024):
    Sequential anaerobic–aerobic treatment enhances sulfamethoxazole removal: From batch cultures to observations in a large-scale wastewater treatment plant
    Environmental Science & Technology. 58, 12609-12620
  7. Zhao S., Rogers M.J., Ding C., Xu G., He J.* (2024):
    Interspecies mobility of organohalide respiration gene clusters enables genetic bioaugmentation
    Environmental Science & Technology. 58, 4214-4225
  8. Bonatelli M.L., Rohwerder T.*, Popp D., Liu Y., Akay C., Schultz C., Liao K.-P., Ding C., Reemtsma T., Adrian L., Kleinsteuber S.* (2023):
    Recently evolved combination of unique sulfatase and amidase genes enables bacterial degradation of the wastewater micropollutant acesulfame worldwide
    Frontiers in Microbiology. 14, 1223838
  9. Ude E.O., Haas J., Kayoum M.K., Ding C.*, Adrian L. (2023):
    Effects of reducing, stabilizing, and antibiotic agents on “Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis”
    Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 107, 1829-1843
  10. Reino C., Ding C.*, Adrian L. (2023):
    Continuous cultivation of Dehalococcoides mccartyi with brominated tyrosine avoids toxic byproducts and gives tight reactor control
    Water Research. 229, 119396
  11. Zhao S., Ding C., Xu G., Rogers M.J. Ramaswamy R., He J.* (2022):
    Diversity of organohalide respiring bacteria and reductive dehalogenases that detoxify polybrominated diphenyl ethers in E-waste recycling sites
    The ISME Journal. 16, 2123-2131
  12. Zhao S., Rogers M., Cao L., Ding C., He J.* (2021):
    Identification of reductive dehalogenases that mediate complete debromination of penta- and tetrabrominated diphenyl ethers in Dehalococcoides spp.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 87, e00602-21
  13. Budhraja R., Karande S., Ding C., Ullrich M.K., Wagner S., Reemtsma T., Adrian L.* (2021):
    Characterization of membrane-bound metalloproteins in the anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacterium “Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis” strain CSTR1
    Talanta. 223, 121711
  14. Ding C.*, Adrian L. (2020):
    Comparative genomics in “Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis” reveal high genomic plasticity in the overall genome structure, CRISPR loci and surface proteins
    BMC Genomics. 21, 851
  15. Ding C., Rogers M.J., He J.* (2020):
    Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain GEO12 has a natural tolerance to chloroform inhibition
    Environmental Science & Technology. 54, 8750–8759
  16. Ding C.*, Adrian L., Peng Y., He J.* (2020):
    16S rRNA gene-based primer pair showed high specificity and quantification accuracy in detecting freshwater Brocadiales anammox bacteria
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 96, fiaa013
  17. Budhraja R., Ding C., Walter P., Wagner S., Reemtsma T., Sawers, G.R., Adrian L.* (2019):
    The impact of species, respiration type, growth phase and genetic inventory on absolute metal content of intact bacterial cells
    Metallomics, 11, 925-935
  18. Wang Q., Ding C., Tao G., He J.* (2019):
    Analysis of enhanced nitrogen removal mechanisms in a validation wastewater treatment plant containing anammox bacteria
    Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 103, 1255–1265
  19. Ding C.*, Enyi F.O., Adrian L. (2018):
    Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) with planktonic cells in a redox-stable semicontinuous stirred-tank reactor
    Environmental Science & Technology. 52, 5671-5681
  20. Ding C., Alvarez-Cohen L.*, He J.* (2018):
    Growth of Dehalococcoides mccartyi species in an autotrophic consortium producing limited acetate
    Biodegradation, 29, 487-498
  21. Zhao S., Rogers M.J., Ding C., He J.* (2018):
    Reductive debromination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers - microbes, pathways and dehalogenase
    Frontiers in Microbiology.     9, 1292
  22. Ding C., Rogers M.J., Yang K.-L., He J.* (2017):
    Loss of the ssrA genome island led to partial debromination in the PBDE respiring Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain GY50
    Environmental Microbiology. 19, 2906 - 2915
  23. Zhao S., Ding C., He J.* (2017):
    Genomic characterization of Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain 11a5 reveals a circular extrachromosomal genetic element and a new tetrachloroethene reductive dehalogenase gene
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 93, fiw235
  24. Ding C., Yang K.-L., He J. (2016):
    Biological and fermentative production of hydrogen
    In: Luque, R., Lin, C.S.K., Wilson, K., Clark, J., (eds.)
    Handbook of biofuels production: processes and technologies (Second edition)
    Woodhead Publishing series in energy 98
    Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, p. 303 - 333
  25. Zhao S., Ding C., He J.* (2015):
    Detoxification of 1,1,2-trichloroethane to ethene by Desulfitobacterium and identification of its functional reductase gene
    PLoS ONE. 10, e0119507
  26. Ding C., Zhao S., He J.* (2014):
    A Desulfitobacterium sp. strain PR reductively dechlorinates both 1,1,1-trichloroethane and chloroform
    Environmental Microbiology. 16, 3387-3397
  27. Ding C., Chow W.L., He J.* (2013):
    Isolation of Acetobacterium sp. strain AG that reductively debrominates octa- and penta- brominated diphenyl ether technical mixtures
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 79, 1110-1117
  28. Ding C., He J.* (2012):
    Molecular techniques in the biotechnological fight against halogenated compounds in anoxic environments
    Microbial Biotechnology. 5, 347-367
  29. Lee L.K., Ding C., Yang K.-L., He J.* (2011):
    Complete debromination of tetra- and penta- brominated diphenyl ethers by a coculture consisting of Dehalococcoides and Desulfovibrio species
    Environmental Science & Technology. 45, 8475-8482
  30. Ning D., Wang H.*, Ding C., Lu H. (2010):
    Novel evidence of cytochrome P450-catalyzed oxidation of phenanthrene in Phanerochaete chrysosporium under ligninolytic conditions
    Biodegradation. 21, 889-901
  31. Ding C., He J.* (2010):
    Effect of antibiotics in the environment on microbial populations
    Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 87, 925-941

Raspberry Pi-based bioreactor

- A Python-based script for controlling syringe pump-driven bioreactors using Raspberry Pi. The bioreactors can be operated either in continuous (semi-) or batch mode
- Role: main developer
- Key features: reactor control (pump, sensor, valve, etc), data storage, graphical interface, real time plot, remove control, expandable with new sensors
- Repository: git.ufz.de/dingc/Bioreactor
- License: MIT

De novo stable isotope probing

- A Python and Shell-based script for protein stable isotope probing (SIP) using de novo peptide sequencing
- Role: main developer (shared with Simon Klaes)
- Key features: Denovo-SIP applies de novo peptide sequencing to generate sample-specific .fasta databases used for protein-based stable isotope probing on samples with unknown composition (e.g. environmental samples).
- Repository: git.ufz.de/MEB/denovo-SIP
- License: MIT

Molecular Environmental Engineering (TU Berlin)

2022–current: Integrated module for master students (6x 1.5h lectures + 4 day practical course)