goodwater

Department of Geochemistry

Capacities: GEUS is a research and advisory institution within the Ministry of Environment of Denmark. The Department of Geochemistry, being one of 10 departments within the GEUS, is experienced in research dealing with the fate of organic chemicals in soil and groundwater. The Department of Geochemistry currently has two professors and six senior researchers. Since 2000 the Department has educated 22 PhD and 40 MSc students. The research integrates hydrogeology with disciplines such as geochemistry, molecular- and microbiology. Characterisation of new contaminant-degrading microorganisms, unravelling of degradation pathways, and determination of microbial and environmental factors controlling the fate of organic contaminants in soil and aquifers, are central parts of the research strategy of the department. The department is also experienced in the use of specific degraders and microbial consortia for bioaugmentation of contaminated soil, ground- and drinking-water. GEUS runs several well equipped laboratories for microbiology including facilities for molecular biology (e.g. RT-PCR, DGGE, FISH and bioinformatics facilities) and analytical chemistry (HPLC/MS, GC/MS, immunological analysis and analysis of radiolabelled isotopes).

Scientific staff at GEUS involved in training

The key scientific staff involved at GEUS are Jens Aamand and Sebastian R. Sørensen. Jens Aamand has a longstanding expertise in microbial ecology and biogeochemical processes in soil and groundwater environments and he has built the microbiology research unit at GEUS during the last decade. He is an expert in various aspects of biodegradation of xenobiotics in subsurface environments and he has supervised 8 PhD students and several MSc students within this subject during his employment at GEUS. Since 2005, Sebastian R. Sørensen has been employed at GEUS as a senior researcher. He is an expert in enrichment of degradative bacteria and elucidation of degradation pathways. He is especially interested in bottlenecks for the biodegradation of groundwater contaminants and his most recent research has focused on the effect of in-field spatial variability within agricultural fields and low contaminant concentrations. He has further on been active in projects related to attenuation of contaminated desert areas in the Middle East and most recently at areas in the Arctic. The foreseen extent of involvement in percent of the full time employment of J. Aamand and S. R. Sørensen is 10% each.