This course will introduce you to the diversity of microbes, the microbial interactions and the microbial processes that are relevant for many environmental biotechnological applications. Using the engineered N cycle as the primary case study, you will learn how to detect and quantify microbes and develop an appreciation for core concepts in microbial ecology. Through laboratory exercises, and a combination of traditional and contemporary tools and techniques, you will learn how to evaluate the presence, abundance, identity, diversity, and activity of microorganisms in various environments and measure environmental process rates. En studerende, der fuldt ud har opfyldt kursets mål, vil kunne:

• Identify different techniques to evaluate activity, presence, abundance and diversity of microbes in environmental samples
• Determine and quantify targeted microbes with modern molecular and microscopic methods
• Perform and interpret molecular diversity analysis on environmental strains and communities
• Measure and interpret microbial transformation rates
• Recognize and interpret microbial interactions and their importance in microbial ecology, and describe opportunities to interfere in those interactions
• Explain how environmental conditions (abiotic factors) affect microbial processes and interactions
• Use selective enrichment and cultivation to evaluate the abundance of public health related microbial traits
• Choose and appraise molecular and microbiological methods for microbial activity, abundance and diversity in environmental samples
• Collaborate in groups and identify the strengths/weaknesses of teamwork

Working with microbial molecular techniques, determination of microbial density and metabolic rates, nucleic acid extraction, quantitative PCR, microscopy, bioinformatics, selective enrichment and cultivation of microbes, biotransformation assays Brock Biology of Microorganisms 14th edition (selected chapters) 10. oktober, 2022