Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology Research Group

RESEARCH GROUP LEADER: Katalin Posta PhD., associate professor

CONTACT: Posta.Katalin@mkk.szie.hu

RESEARCH GROUP MEMBERS:
Professor: 1
Associate professor: 1
Assistant professor: 1
Junior assistant professor: 1
Research fellow: 1
Departmental engineer: 1
Assistant: 2
PhD student: 1

RESEARCH AREAS:
Soil and environmental microbiology, Ecotoxicology, Food and feed safety, Study of microbiological processes to reduce environmental impact, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in natural and agricultural ecosystems, Role of microorganisms in enhancing nutrient uptake and stress tolerance of plants, Relationships between microorganisms and soil organic matter, Isolation and study of thermophilic fungi originated form composted plant debris mixture, Characterization of lignocellulose-degrading enzymes

MEMBERSHIPS:
Hungarian Mycological Society
Hungarian Society for Microbiology
Hungarian Association of Agricultural Sciences, Society for Soil Science, Soil Biology Section
ENDURE European Research Group

LONG-TERM COLLABORATIONS:
Charles University in Prague, Department of Plant Physiology, Czech Republic
Lund University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Plant Ecology and Systematics Research Group, Sweden
Centre for Agricultural Research, Agricultural Institute of HAS, Hungary
Centre for Agricultural Research, Institute for Soil Sciences and Agricultural Chemistry of HAS, Hungary
West Pomeranian University of Technology, Poland
University of Turin, Department of Plant Biology
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Institute of Natural Products Chemistry

SERVICES:
development and testing of microbiological inoculum
environmental impact assessment
assessment and utilization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities
measuring effects of heavy metals and pollutants on the microorganisms
identification of microorganisms to species level
microbiological toxicity testing
detection and quantification of E. coli and coliform bacteria

GRANTS:

OTKA
  		Influence of different crop rotation systems on the community of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in maize cultures (2012)

TéT 		Real case application of mycorrhizal fungi on different medicinal and agricultural plants to increase their production (2011)
OTKA Comparative analysis of genetic and induced resistance to downy mildew (Plasmopara halstedii (Farl.) Berl. et de Toni) and white rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary) in sunflower (2010)
EU FP6 European Network for the Durable Exploitation of crop protection strategies, ENDURE (2007)
NKTH Jedlik Development of a complex soil-microbiological product-line to provide environmentally-friendly, economical nutrient-supply (2007)
 

CONTRACTS:
 Agricultural companies, Farms, Chemical and seed companies, SMEs, R&D enterprises