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Institut for Miljøvidenskab

Environmental Microbial Genomics

Transmission electron microscopy image of bacteriophage CAjan1 of the Siphoviridae family.

In January 2014, Aarhus University recruited Professor Lars Hestbjerg Hansen in order to strengthen the area of DNA-based molecular biology. A new research group, Environmental Microbial Genomics (EMG), was formed with a Post-Doc, a PhD student along with two Master’s thesis students and Prof. Lars Hestbjerg Hansen as group leader. The EMG group is focused on the following topics:

Molecular parasites (plasmids, phages and transposons) and their bacterial interactions
Mechanisms behind bioremediation of xenobiotics on a molecular level
Development of bioinformatical pipelines for microbial and phage genomics
Investigation of emerging pathogens through mobilomics
Interactions between plants and prokaryotes with special focus on bioprotection

New PhD student in the EMG group

Welcome to Ole Hylling our new PhD student, who will be working on the MEM2BIO project. He will be working on new ways to optimize the survival and performance of specific pesticide degrading bacterial in waterworks sand filters. The bacteria will in this way purify the polluted water of the specific pesticide residues.

Click here for more on the MEM2BIO project.

Master's thesis projects

We have available Master's and Bachelor's projects! You are also very welcome to contact us if you have your own idea for a project!

See our page on available projects for descriptions and information:

Available projects

Most recent publications

Feld, L., Göke, C., Clausen, D. S., Ellegaard-Jensen, L. & Jensen, A. N. (2025). Sanitary survey rapport 24: Samsø Bælt. Aarhus University, DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy. Teknisk rapport fra DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi Bind 2025 Nr. 357 https://dce.au.dk/fileadmin/dce.au.dk/Udgivelser/Tekniske_rapporter_350-400/TR357.pdf

Feld, L., Göke, C., Clausen, D. S., Ellegaard-Jensen, L. & Jensen, A. N. (2025). Sanitary survey rapport 25: Jyllands vestkyst (sydlig del). Aarhus University, DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy. Technical Report from DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy Bind 2025 Nr. 358 https://dce.au.dk/fileadmin/dce.au.dk/Udgivelser/Tekniske_rapporter_350-400/TR358.pdf

Feld, L., Göke, C., Clausen, D. S., Ellegaard-Jensen, L. & Jensen, A. N. (2025). Sanitary survey rapport 26: Jyllands vestkyst (indre Vadehav). Aarhus University, DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy. Technical Report from DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy Bind 2025 Nr. 359 https://dce.au.dk/fileadmin/dce.au.dk/Udgivelser/Tekniske_rapporter_350-400/TR359.pdf

Iturbe-Espinoza, P., Bruun, E. W., Sapkota, R., Ellegaard-Jensen, L., Christiansen, N. G., Petersen, C. T., Müller‐Stöver, D. & Winding, A. (2026). Biochar affects phosphate availability, extracellular enzyme activity, and microbiomes in coarse sandy subsoils. European Journal of Soil Biology, 128, Artikel 103800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2025.103800

Iturbe Espinoza, P., Sapkota, R., Ellegaard-Jensen, L., Bruun, E. W. & Winding, A. (2025). Effect of biochar on extracellular enzyme activity and microbiome dynamics across coarse sandy soil depths. Poster-session præsenteret på The Danish Microbiological Society Congress 2025, Kbh.

All publications

Revideret 08.05.2025