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Environmental Biotechnology

Home E Syllabus and Course of Studies E Environmental Biotechnology

Theory: 3 hours/week | Practicals: 2 hours/week | ECTS Units: 5

Learning outcomes

  • Understanding of the fundamentals of Environmental Biotechnology and of its theatre of applications
  • Understanding of the role of microbes in the function of ecosystems
  • Knowledge of the main biotechnological applications of microbes in environmental practices for the remediation of polluted environmental matrices
  • Understanding of the utility of microbes as biological cell factories for the production of new bioproducts with low environmental footprint and further expanding towards the production of biofuels, applications in agriculture (biopesticides, biostimulants), in paper production industry, production of bioplastics and metals leaching
  • Familiarize with the application of basic microbiological, molecular and analytical techniques with are used by environmental biotechnology
  • Acquisition of the capacity to critically evaluate problems and conditions, and capacity to design strategies for resolving environmental problems based on biotechnology
  • Capacity to design new biotechnological processes for the development of products with low environmental footprint

Syllabus

  • Introduction to Environmental Biotechnology and Microbial tools
  • The role of microbes in nutrient cycling
  • Environmental pollutants and microbial transformations
  • Bioremediation: Bioaugmentation, Biostimulation and other strategies; Catabolism vs C-metabolism of organic pollutants; Microbial detoxification of inorganic pollutants (anions, metals); Microbial degradation and detoxification of organic pollutants, pathways involved
  • Microbes involved in Bioremediation: Fungi vs Bacteria; White rot fungi and their enzymes
  • Phytoremediation
  • Application of Environmental Biotechnology in Agriculture (Microbial pesticides, biostimulants, mechanisms and examples, applications)
  • Application of Environmental Biotechnology in Biofuels (Hydrogen, Ethanol, Biogas)
  • Other applications of Environmental Biotechnology in Industrial processes: Bioplastics, Enhanced oil recovery, Metal bioleaching, Biosurfactants (biosynthetic pathways and regulatory mechanisms, applications and optimization, problems and ways forward)

Student practical classes

  1. Determination of the enzymatic activity of laccases in cultures of white rot fungi
  2. Determination of the enzymatic activity of Mn-dependent peroxidases in culture of white rot fungi
  3. Determination of the activity of beta-glucosidases and phosphatases in soil samples
  4. Determination of potential nitrification in soil samples
  5. Getting familiar with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: staining and microscopic observation of their cultures, in vitro cultivation of AMF

The students should hand in a report of their experiment performed at the end of each practical class. In addition, in the frame of the practical classes they are given a publication in pairs, and they are asked to present the paper in front of their tutors in 10 min and then answer questions. The papers given to the students are published in high impact journals like Nature, Science, PNAS, Environmental Microbiology, FEMS Microbiology Ecology.

Student performance evaluation

The students are evaluated both for their capacity to understand basic knowledge (lectures) but also for the capacity to understand and apply this knowledge in the frame of their practicals. So:

  1. The students’ final mark is defined based on their written examination at the end of the semester
  2. Their performance in the practical classes is derived by 50% from the mark they are getting on their weekly reports and 50% by the mark they are getting for their presentation of a scientific paper. This presentation is done in groups of two students at the end of the semester
  3. The final mark in the course is derived by the mark they got for their performance in the practical courses (20%) and from the written examination (80%)

Suggested bibliography

Τhe content of the course is not covered by the currently available textbooks in Greek and for this reason textbooks in English are used complementary. In principle from the two Greek textbooks proposed to the students, the first one covers mostly topics of Environmental Microbiology while the second focuses more on biotechnological applications.

  • Ntougias, S., Aivazidis A., Melidis P., 2012 Environmental Microbiology, ISBN: 978-960-8002-66-1, Emvrio Publishers
  • Aggelis G. 2017. Microbiology and Microbial Technology, ISBN: 978-618-5304-12-6, Stamoulis Publishers
  • Evans GM, Furlong JC. 2003. Environmental Biotechnology. Theory and Application. Willey and Sons.

Teaching Material / E-class

Website of the course Environmental Biotechnology in the Εclass system of the University of Thessaly where all announcements, past papers and the content of the lectures can be found and downloaded by the students
https://eclass.uth.gr/courses/BIO_U_154/

Lecturers

Dimitrios Karpouzas (Course Coordinator)

Panagiotis Karas