Colloid biology
Colloid: a mixture of microscopically dispersed insoluble PARTICLES suspended throughout another substance. The PARTICLES, usually inanimate, have different physical and chemical properties, which determine their characteristics.
BIOcolloid = a mixture of CELLS ! I.e. live particles that sense the environment, respond to it and change with time. Meaning, they are a bit more complex to study and understand. All hands on deck!
NEWS FROM THE LAB
WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON
Bacterial Cell Surface Modification
Using polyelectrolytes to modify cell surface charge and induce cell attachment.
Construction of Artificial Consortia
Multi-species artificial aggregates and biofilms that mimic natural structures.
Microbial Cell Carriers
Carriers with and active role in promotion of bacterial physiology.
Metabolic modelling
Building complex multi-step biotransformation pathways involving multiple partners.
Physiology of bacterial cells
Characterizing bacterial strains on multiple levels using OMICS.
Cell and molecular sensors
Detection of toxic metals like mercury by whole-cells or specific proteins.
APPLIED KNOWLEDGE FOR
Biotechnological processes
Bacterial cell factories with complex metabolic pathways, aggregated cellular structures in 2D (biofilms) or 3D (spherical aggregates)
Environmental technologies
Bioremediation, biotransformation
Medicine
Guiding bacterial cells in vivo, bacterial production of medical compounds
Agro Sciences
Decomposition of waste, bacterial fertilizers
Surface modification & coatings
Protective coatings for materials, or coatings that interact and modify the material
THE TOOLS WE USE
PARTICLE SIZE & CHARGE CHARACTERIZATION
CELL ENTRAPMENT & ENCAPSULATION
ELECTROSTATIC MODIFICATION OF SURFACES
FLOW CYTOMETRY
CUSTOM MADE MICROFLUIDICS
QCM
TIME LAPSE FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY & EDS
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
GAS & LIQUID CHROM. MASS SPECTROSCOPY
FLOUR. & LUMINESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY
MICROSENSORS
MOLECULAR CLONING
REAL-TIME QUANTITATIVE PCR
NANOPORE SEQUENCING
BIOINFOMRATICS (OMICS)
MACHINE LEARNING
METABOLIC MODELING
THE TEAM
Aleš Lapanje
Associate professor
Head of the Lab for Colloid Biology
PhD in Microbiology
Establishing the new scientific field - Colloid Biology
Tomaž Rijavec
Assistant Professor
PhD. in Molecular Biology
Working on bacterial communities, genes & genomes
Tayebeh Sharifi
Postdoctoral Researcher
PhD in Material Sciences
Working on design and development of nanomaterials for a hybrid of bio-photo-electrochemical system for detritiation of light-water and simultaneously H2 generation.
Dmitrii Deev
PhD candidate
M.Sc. in Biology
Working on dynamics of artificial biofilms
Maja Zugan
PhD candidate
Msc in Microbiology
Working on environmental applications of colloid biology
Kritjan Gašpirc
PhD. candidate
...
Tamara Kerševan
Msc. Candidate
Studying the relations of particle size and microbial biofilms.
Blaž Bohinc
Msc. candidate
Working on the attachment of photosynthetic microorganisms to semiconductors to improve tritium separation
Teja Colja
Msc. candidate
Working on characteristation of antimicrobial activity of bacterial isolates
Former Lab Members
...
Farzaneh Hosseini, Msc in Chemistry - Worked on microbe driven enrichment of tritium
Anatolii Abalymov, PhD in Biotechnologies - Worked on development of materials for tissue engineering, lab-on-chip systems, nano- and microparticles for bacterial isolation and community structuring
Urša Lovše, Msc. Biochemistry - Worked on the optimisation of bacterial genomic DNA isolation for nanopore sequencing and sequence analysis of selected strains [Msc. Thesis | PDF | language: slovene]
Nada Verdel, PhD chemical technology - Worked on bioremediation of wastewater from papermills and construction of waste degrading artificial bacterial consortia.
The Colloid Biology Open Lab
Researchers welcome!
You have ideas you want to test? You want to do some preliminary experiments to test the proof of concept?
Our lab facilities are open to anyone and we'd be glad to host you.
Our lab facilities are open to anyone and we'd be glad to host you.
Meet our visitors...
Working on bacterial aggregation to construct artificial consortia for pollutant removal.
Working on artificial biofilms and aggregates for industrial settings.
Alberto Soto Cañas, University of Burgos PhD candidate
Working on bacterial aggregation for application in agricultural system
José Carlos Castilla Alcántara, University of Burgos Postdoc
Working on bacterial aggregation for bioremediation of soil
Working on Nanobiosensors for methylmercury detection
Working on bioleaching and extraction of valuable metals from various materials.
Anatolii Abalymov, JSI Post doc
Worked on the prepardevelopment of the uLUME isolation approach.
Marija Petrović, University of Belgrade PhD candidate
Worked on the preparation of PGPR consortia for agricultural applications
Nada Verdel, Institute of Chemistry Post doc
Worked on the preparation of pollutant-degrading consortia.
OUR CLOSE COLLABORATORS @ JSI
Marko Štrok
PhD Chemistry
Laboratory for radiochemistry
Tina Kosjek
PhD Chemistry
Laboratory for analytical chemistry - Organic Analysis
Janez Ščančar
PhD Chemistry
Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry - Trace element speciation
Raghuraj S Chouhan
PhD Chemistry
Laboratory for nanomateials
Milena Horvat
PhD Chemistry
Department of Environmental Sciences Head
Tomaž Lutman
PhD Chemistry
Technology Manger
PUBLICATIONS - LATEST
SHARIFILC et al.
ECS Transactions, 2024, 113 (10) 43-48
Huang et al.
Int j biol macrom., 2024, vol. 280
Hilpman et la.
STOTEN, 2024, vol. 955
PROJECTS
FEATUrED PROJECT
web page: https://www.biosysmo.eu/ | LinkedIn | Twitter
We are implementing bacterial consortia for different bioremediation approaches, like bioaugmentation using advanced cell carriers, plant remediation systems and bioelectrochemical systems.
ONGOING PROJECTS
Valorisation of olive oil waste material by microbial multispecies biocatalytic aggregates
Hybrid particle/hydrogel/bacterial carriers for microbially-assisted degradation of recalcitrant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
New biofertilization approach based on the microbial multispecies biocatalytic aggregates
Investigation of selected invasive plant species from genus Fallopia as reliable sources of bioactive compounds
Cost-efficient separation of tritium from water with bio-based systems
Innovative isotopic techniques for identification of sources and biogeochemical cycling of mercury in contaminated sites
Cycling of substances in the environment, mass balances, modelling of environmental processes and risk assessment
Protection, Resilience, Rehabilitation of damaged environment
INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
UNIVERSITY OF BURGOS
GHENT UNIVERSITY
WAGENINGEN
UNIVERSITY & RESEARCH
HELMHOLZ ZENTRUM
DRESDEN-ROSENDORF
VU AMSTERDAM
DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
LEITAT
IDENER
INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE AND TOURISM
QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY
TOMSK UNIVERSITY
SARATOV STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF BELGRADE
VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL
NATIONAL NETWORK
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY
UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
UNIVERSITY OF MARIBOR
UNIVERSITY OF PRIMORSKA
UNIVERSITY OF NOVO MESTO
SLOVENIAN NATIONAL BUILDING AND CIVIL ENGINEERING INSTITUTE
LOCATION
GROUP FOR COLLOID BIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
JOŽEF STEFAN INSTITUTE | REACTOR CENTER PODGORICA
BRINJE 40, 1262 DOL PRI LJUBLJANI, SLOVENIA
