Department Environmental Microbiology

Selected Publications

Drinking Water Microbiology: Review on biological approaches to control Legionella growth in building plumbing systems.

Microbial Systems Ecology: Article describing how marine bacteria regulate enzyme secretion and cellular behavior to achieve degradation of complex polysaccharides in the ocean, an important process in the global carbon cycle. 

Microbial Community Assembly: Article showing that the timing of antibiotic administration determines the proliferation of antibiotic resistance-encoding plasmids.

Pathogens and Human Health: Article about the role of contaminated surfaces in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within communities and the effectiveness of hand hygiene and surface disinfection interventions.

Microbial Specialized Metabolism: Over 2/3 of pharmaceuticals are mainly excreted through urine. Most studies have focused on the gut microbiota, neglecting biotransformations in urinary by the urinary tract microbiota, which we investigate in this study.

 

Seminars

24.01.​2025,
9.00 am
Eawag Dübendorf

PEAK-Basiskurs B34/25

News

December 17, 2024 –

Today, over 60 experts from research, federal and cantonal administration, the police, politics and hospitals are meeting to discuss the current status and future of wastewater monitoring in Switzerland. The current trends: a...

Today, over 60 experts from research, federal and cantonal administration, the police, politics and hospitals are meeting to discuss the current status and future of wastewater monitoring in Switzerland. The current trends: a seasonal increase for influenza and the RSV virus, stagnating or even declining for coronavirus. We spoke to environmental engineer Christoph Ort, who, together with environmental microbiologist Tim Julian, established the field of wastewater-based epidemiology at Eawag and - in cooperation with external experts - is constantly adapting it.

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Selected Research Projects

This project aims to characterize, model and predict enzyme families driving pollutant biotransformations in periphyton.
Application of Wastewater-based Epidemiology to SARS-CoV-2 Detection
We combine computational, experimental and clinical approaches to develop a clearer view of microbiomes.
Inhalation of legionella bacteria – which thrive in warm water – can cause illness: in a new project, an Eawag-led multidisciplinary research team is investigating how the risks associated with these bacteria can best be managed.