Dr. Alexander Gigler, Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU)

Project:

When investigating the bacterial biomineralization, the most interesting processes occur on the single cell level. In order to directly control the parameters under which this biomineralization is conducted and to minimize the sample volumes needed for analysis, microfluidic systems are perfectly suitable. Two sample systems will be investigated:

1. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Leptospirillum ferroooxidans und Thiomonas sp. which can produce schwertmannite (Fe₈O₈(OH)₆(SO₄)) crystals in waste-waters and are able to remove sulfate contaminations. Thus these are promising candidates for a biological regeneration of highly contaminated waters.

2. Magnetotactic bacteria (Magnetobacterium bavaricum) will be used which produce nano-crystals of magnetite (Fe₃O₄). In this part of the project, we want to develop a magnetic sorting device in a microfluidic setup.

Further analysis of the produced biominerals will be done via light microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and/or X-Ray diffraction to achieve a full structural characterization of the materials.

Required skills and/or knowledge:

• clean-room aptitude
• polymer-based microfluidics
• optical trapping
• biomineralization
• analytic methods: light-microscopy, Raman, X-Ray