Laboratory of Microbiology

The Laboratory of Microbiology studies diversity, evolution, taxonomy, ecology, host-microbe interaction and biochemistry of bacteria, including marine bacteria. Its research topics are diverse and embedded in environmental (aquatic soil), medical and food microbiology.

The team have developed a high throughput experimental pipeline for isolation of bacteria, dereplication and identification by MALDI TOF mass spectrometry and sequence analysis. Special interest groups of bacteria include the genera Aeromonas, Bacillus, Burkholderia, Campylobacter, and Pseudomonas, the lactic and acetic acid bacteria, flavobacteria and rhizobia. The Laboratory of Microbiology publicly hosts the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, which maintains over 25.000 strains, representing some 700 genera and 4.500 species. It also holds an extensive non-public research collection that includes some 3.000 marine strains.