Information from Veronika
Veronika is a member within the Euro-MIC COST framework. This project is funded by the European Union and enables scientists to bridge knowledge and capabilities across countries and disciplines.
Summary of the experiences and competences of Veronika
I studied biological sciences and have a broad experience in basic research gained at Czech Academy of Science as well as at renowned institutes abroad such as Max Planck Institute in Germany or CNRS in France. I started to work in applied sciences several years ago and I am mainly focused on microbiology in terms of long-term sustainability of future deep geological repository, where metabolicaly active microorganisms could be of high risk to achieve this task. The most important component of the DGR design is the disposal canister that can suffer from corrosion triggered by microbial metabolites. Microorganisms are getting to the vicinity of canister due to its close contact with microbially rich material – the bentonite. Here we study the microbial activity in bentonite that is in contact with steel under different conditions and try to describe the boundary conditions in such complex systems. Next, we also collaborate with a local petrol company to mitigate the MIC in industrial water cooling systems.
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Technical University of Liberec (TUL) has the prime objectives in technology transfer and innovation with focus on the needs of local industries and their impact on the environment and ecology. Our institute is a research center at TUL with a long experience in environmental sciences that can exploit unique technical equipment at the institute as well as the opportunity to crosslink with other fields of research at the university. One of the main priorities is the applicability of the research results in industry. Department of Applied Biology is primarily focused on applied microbiology in many different fields e.g. mitigation strategies, nanotoxicology, bioremediation, and research related to deep geological environment. We have experience with various laboratory and in-situ experiments simulating extreme environment of deep geological zones, and laboratories are for this purpose equiped to simulate anaerobic conditions. We are able to perform a broad spectrum of microbiological, molecular-genetic, and chemical analyses that could be of interest of other partners in the COST projects.
Contact details
Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation, Technical University of Liberec
Bendlova 7
Liberec
460 01
Czechia
veronika.hlavackova@tul.cz
Further details
- HLAVÁČKOVÁ, V. aj. A protocol for the extraction of viable bacteria for identification of bacterial communities in bentonite Applied Clay Science ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, 2023, roč. 232, č. FEB. ISSN: 0169-1317. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169131722004045
- KAŠPAR, V. aj. Geochemical, Geotechnical, and Microbiological Changes in Mg/Ca Bentonite after Thermal Loading at 150 °C Minerals 1. vyd. MDPI, 2021, roč. 11, č. 9. ISSN: 2075-163X. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/9/965/htm
- STEINOVÁ, J., HLAVÁČKOVÁ, V. a ČERNÁ, K. Chapter 4 – Molecular techniques for understanding microbial abundance and activity in clay barriers used for geodisposal The Microbiology of Nuclear Waste Disposal 1. Elsevier, 2020 S. 71 – 96. ISBN: 978-0-12-818695-4.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818695-4.00004-6
