Curriculum Vitae

Research

My PhD research is focused on the fate assessment of antibiotic residuals within the multi-barrier concepts of drinking water resource protection. Wastewater treatment plants are not sufficiently equipped to fully eliminate antibiotic residuals, some of their human metabolites and transformation products (TPs) and hence discharge still considerable amounts into surface water. Contaminated surface water infiltrates into the ground via bank filtration or managed aquifer recharge (MAR), potentially posing a risk of antibiotic resistance propagation to groundwater as highly vulnerable drinking water resource.
We postulate that microbial processes of various redox zones play an essential role in the fate and transformation of antibiotic residuals (e.g. sulfonamides, (fluoro)quinolones, macrolides) and their human metabolites during bank filtration. Hence, we are long-term operating lab-scale bank filtration column systems with redox-differentiated zones. We are establishing mass spectrometry methods (LC-MS/MS) to investigate the fate of these water constituents and particularly the transformation pathways occurring under different redox conditions. Additionally, we employ (meta)genomics and shot-gun (meta)proteomics tools to identify key-transforming microbial populations and proteins. We combine our findings from column studies with meso-cosm batch experiments enriching and characterizing microbial populations playing a key role in the natural attenuation of antibiotic residuals during bank filtration.
Overall, our work further reveals the complex interplay of redox conditions, microbial populations and transformation pathways for antibiotic residuals during bank filtration. Henceforth, our research can propose direct approaches to promote the natural attenuation capacity of bank filtration for antibiotic residuals ultimately protecting vulnerable drinking resources.

Publications