Mikkel Christensen
Stipendiat, Biomolekylær og strukturkjemi
Stillingsbeskrivelse
We investigate bacteria isolated from the arctic marine environment that produce Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as intracellular storage polymers. PHA is extracted from bacteria and used as a bioplastic due to attractive material properties including degradation in marine environments. It is currently produced at industrial scale although at very low quantities compared to recalcitrant oil-plastics that we all use in our everyday life. Discovery and optimization of PHA producing bacteria will hopefully lead to a future of sustainable bioplastic production.
Our work consist of a combination of
Microbiology (Fluorescence microscopy, 16s rDNA identification, growth optimization)
Analytical chemistry (Quantification of PHA production using FTIR and GC/MS)
Bioinformatics (Genome assembly and downstream analyses)
Genetic engineering (eg. CRISPR/CAS9; projected work)
Are you a student and interested in an informal talk about our work? Please contact us!
Read more:
https://framsenteret.no/forum/2019/confronting-one-of-our-greatest-challenges-plastic-waste-in-nature/ (Public outreach article)
MarVal project - "From unexploited marine biomass to high value products" (A UiT Interdisciplinary Research project)
https://site.uit.no/marval/
MarPlast project - "Marine microorganisms for bioplastics production" (Partners from Umeå University and University of Bucharest)
http://site.uit.no/marplast/
or say hello! on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikkel-christensen-b099a7a9/
- Christensen, Mikkel; Jablonski, Piotr; Altermark, Bjørn; Irgum, Knut; Hansen, Hilde. High natural PHA production from acetate in Cobetia sp. MC34 and Cobetia marina DSM 4741T and in silico analyses of the genus specific PhaC2 polymerase variant. (fulltekst) Microbial Cell Factories 2021; Volum 20. ISSN 1475-2859.s doi: 10.1186/s12934-021-01713-0.
- Petersen, Bent Larsen; Moller, Svenning Rune; Mravec, Jozef; Jørgensen, Bodil; Christensen, Mikkel; Liu, Ying; Wandall, Hans H; Bennett, Eric Paul; Yang, Zhang. Improved CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing by fluorescence activated cell sorting of green fluorescence protein tagged protoplasts. BMC Biotechnology 2019; Volum 19. ISSN 1472-6750.s doi: 10.1186/s12896-019-0530-x.
Undervisning
Lab supervision and report corrections in course:
Introduction to Chemistry and Chemical Biology (KJE-1001)