91探花  Borchert, Erik

Dr. Erik Borchert

Borchert, Erik

Research Division 3: Marine Ecology
RU Marine Symbioses

Office:
Room: 4.512
Phone: +49 431 600-4485
Email: eborchert@geomar.de
Address:
Wischhofstra脽e 1-3, Building 5, Room: 4.512
D-24148 Kiel

Research interests

My current research projects focus on utilizing marine microorganisms for biotechnological advances towards a blue bioeconomy. I am especially interested in deciphering whole microbial consortia and their capabilities to degrade complex substrates synergistically (such as plastics and bones). The aim of my projects is to use 鈥楳ulti-Omic鈥� approaches to identify enzymatically active microorganisms and enzymes as well as applying targeted evolution to whole microbial consortia to enhance activity. Additionally, to these projects I am interested in bioprospecting of the marine environment for novel pharmaceuticals, biocatalysators, biopolymers and other compounds that may benefit the transition to a more sustainable use of the earth鈥檚 resources.

Keywords: Marine microbiology, Host-microbiome interactions, Metagenomics, Next generation sequencing, Enzyme discovery

Education and academic positions

  • since 2018 postdoctoral researcher
  • 2014-2017 PhD studies in Environmental Microbiology at the University College Cork, Ireland (BluePharmTrain - Marie Sk艂odowska Curie fellowship)
  • 2011-2013 MSc studies in biochemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany
  • 2008-2011 BSc studies in biochemistry and molecular biology at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany

Awards, fellowships and grants

  • Poster prize at the EMBRIC workshop 鈥濼reasures from the Deep鈥�. Brussels, Belgium (March 2019)
  • 2014-2017 Marie Sk艂odowska Curie initial training network (MC-ITN) fellowship, BluePharmTrain

Third party funding

Publications

  • Lips S, Schmitt-Jansen M, Borchert E (2024) Metagenomic analysis of the plastisphere reveals a common functional potential across oceans. biorxiv
  • Turak O, Gagsteiger A, Upadhyay A, Kriegel M, Salein P, Agarwal S, Borchert E, H枚cker B (2024) A third tye of PETase from the marine Halopseudomonas lineage. biorxiv
  • Tora D, Hentschel U, Lips S, Schmitt-Jansen M, Borchert E (2023) 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of the microbial community on microplastic samples from the North Atlantic and Great Pacific Garbage Patches. Afr. J. Microbiol. Res. 17(5), 123-138. DOI: doi.org/10.5897/AJMR2022.9682
  • Galarza-Verkovitch D, Turak O, Wiese J, Rahn T,  Hentschel U, Borchert E (2023) Bioprospecting for polyesterase activty relevant for PET degradation in marine Enterobacterales isolates. AIMS Microbiology 9(3), 518-539, DOI: 10.3934/microbiol.2023027
  • Borchert E, Chow J, Hentschel U, Streit, WR (2022) Marine Mikroorganismen f眉r den Plastikabbau. Biospektrum 28, 594鈥�596. DOI:
  • Fernandez-Lopez L, Sanchez-Carrillo S, Garcia-Moyano A, Borchert E, Almendral D, Alonso S, Cea-Rama I, Miguez N, Larsen O, Werner J, Makarova KS, Plou FJ, Dahlgren TG, Sans-Aparicio J, Hentschel U, Bjerga GEK, Ferrer M (2021) The bone-degrading enzyme machinery: From multi-component understanding to the treatment of residues from the meat industry. Comp Struct Biotechnol J. Volume 19, 6328-6342
  • Coons AK, Busch K, Lenz M, Hentschel U and Borchert E (2021) Biogeography rather than substrate type determines bacterial colonization dynamics of marine plastics. Peer J,
  • Borchert E, Hammerschmidt K, Hentschel U and Deines P (2021) Enhancing microbial pollutant degradation by integrating eco-evolutionary principles with environmental biotechnology. Trends Microbiol.,
  • Borchert E, Garcia-Moyano A, Sanchez-Carrillo S, Dahlgren TG, Slaby BM, Bjerga GEK, Ferrer M, Franzenburg S, Hentschel U (2021) Deciphering a marine bone-degrading microbiome reveals a complex community effort. mSystems, 6, 1
  • Villalobos AS, Wiese J, Borchert E, Rahn T, Slaby BM, Steiner LX, K眉nzel S, Dorador C and Imhoff JF (2021) Micromonospora tarapacensis sp. nov., a bacterium isolated from a hypersaline lake. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol., 71 (11). Art.Nr. 005109. DOI 10.1099/ijsem.0.005109
  • Choo S, Borchert E, Wiese J, Saha M, K眉nzel S, Weinberger F, Hentschel U (2020) Polaribacter septentrionalilitoris sp. nov., isolated from the biofilm of a stone from the North Sea. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol., 7, 4305-4314
  • Wiese J, Imhoff JF, Horn H, Borchert E, Kyrpides NC, G枚ker M, Klenk HP, Woyke T, Hentschel U (2019) Genome analysis of the marine bacterium Kiloniella laminariae and first insights into comparative genomics with related Kiloniella species. Arch. Microbiol., 202, 815-824
  • Steinert G, Huete-Stauffer C, Aas-Valleriani N, Borchert E, Bhushan A, Campbell A, Chaib de Mares M, Costa M, Gutleben J, Knobloch S, Lee RG, Munroe S, Naik D, Peters EE, Stokes E, Wang W, Einarsd贸ttir E, Sipkema D (2018) BluePharmTrain: Biology and biotechnology of Marine Sponges. In: Rampelotto P, Trincone A (eds) Grand Challenges in Marine Biotechnology. Springer, Cham
  • Borchert E, Knobloch S, Dwyer E, O鈥橣lynn S, Jackson SA, J贸hannsson R, Marteinsson VT, O鈥橤ara F, Dobson ADW (2017) Biotechnological potential of cold adapted Pseudoalteromonas spp. isolated from 鈥榙eep sea鈥� sponges. Mar. Drugs, 15, 184
  • Borchert E, Selvin J, Kiran GS, Jackson SA, O鈥橤ara F, Dobson ADW (2017) Characterization of a novel cold active deep sea esterase from a metagenomic library from the sponge Stelletta normani. Front. Mar. Sci., 4:287
  • Borchert E (2017) The biotechnological potential of deep sea sponges and their associated microbiome. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.
  • Borchert E, Jackson SA, O鈥橤ara F, Dobson ADW (2017) Psychrophiles as a source of novel antimicrobials. In: Margesin R. (eds) Psychrophiles: From Biodiversity to Biotechnology. Springer, Cham
  • Borchert E, Jackson SA, O'Gara F, Dobson AD (2016) Diversity of natural product biosynthetic genes in the microbiome of the deep sea sponges Inflatella pellicula, Poecillastra compressa, and Stelletta normani. Front. Microbiol., 7:1027.
  • Jackson SA, Borchert E, O'Gara F, Dobson ADW (2015) Metagenomics for the discovery of novel biosurfactants of environmental interest from marine ecosystems.Curr. Opin. Biotechnol., 33:176-182.

Contributions to meetings and seminars

  • Oral presentation (invited highlight talk in 'Microbes and Microplastics') at the 7th Joint conference of DGHM&VAAM 2024. "Metagenomics of the open ocean Plastisphere: a novel microbial niche with unique functional potential" W眉rzburg, Germany (June 2024)
  • Oral presentation (invited talk) at the ESSIB 2023. "Hidden ecological features of the marine plastisphere" Hamburg, Germany (July 2023)
  • Oral presentation at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting. "Plastisphere microbial communities depend on geographic location rather than plastic polymer type" (June 2021)
  • Poster at the EMBRIC workshop 鈥淭reasures from the Deep鈥�. 鈥淧roBone 鈥� New tools for prospecting the marine bone-degrading microbiome for novel enzymes鈥� Brussels, Belgium (March 2019)
  • Poster at the 17th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME). 鈥淏iotechnological potential of deep sea sponge microbiomes for novel cold adapted enzymes and secondary metabolite gene clusters鈥� Leipzig, Germany (August 2018)
  • Oral presentation at the 鈥淏lue Symposium 鈥� Sponges, Corals and the World鈥�. 鈥淏iotechnological potential and comparative genomics of Pseudoalteromonas spp. from deep sea sponges鈥� Blanes, Spain (March 2017)
  • Oral presentation at the 11th International Marine Biotechnology Conference. 鈥淒iversity of natural product biosynthetic genes in deep sea sponges鈥� Baltimore, MD, USA (September 2016)
  • Poster at the 11th International Marine Biotechnology Conference. 鈥淐omparative genomics of Pseudoalteromonas spp. isolates from three different deep sea sponges鈥� Baltimore, MD, USA (September 2016)
  • Oral presentation at the Sea Change Researchers Workshop. 鈥淓xploiting the biotechnological potential of deep sea sponges鈥� Galway, Ireland (June 2016)
  • Poster at the 91探花 Biotech Mini Symposium. 鈥淭he biological potential of the microbial community of deep sea sponges Poecillastra compressa and Stelletta normani鈥� Kiel, Germany (December 2015)
  • Oral short presentation and Poster at the 2nd International Symposium on Sponge Microbiology. 鈥淭he biological potential of the microbial community of deep sea sponges Poecillastra compressa and Stelletta normani鈥� Baltimore, MD, USA (October 2014)
  • Poster at the Weimar Sepsis Update. 鈥淭he multiple roles of the hyphae-regulating transcription factor Cph2 in Candida albicans鈥� Weimar, Germany (August 2013)

Teaching

  • Bachelor programm module "Natural life science principles in food sciences and biotechnology" at the University of Applied Sciences, Flensburg, Germany
  • Bachelormodul "Naturwissenschaftliche Grundlagen der Bio- und Lebensmitteltechnologie" Hochschule Flensburg, Deutschland
  • Master programm Biological Oceanography module BIOC-202 practical course 2019, 2020, 2021
  • Master theses: Simeon Choo, Ashley Coons (United States of America), Denisse Galarza-Verkovitch (Ecuador), Maelle Zonnequin (France), Emmanuel Dkwalma Tora (Togo), Onur Turak (Germany), Samantha Chase (United States of America)
  • Bachelor theses: Hanna Nordstr枚m, Vincent Richter, Stefan Schmiedel
  • students lab 91探花

Outreach activities

  • Presentation in the seminar series of the 鈥淏und Deutscher Verpackungsingenieure鈥� (BDVI e.V., 2021)
  • Presentation to school students from the Toni-Jensen community school (2021)
  • Contribution to television formats: NDR DAS! and NDR Schleswig-Holstein Magazin (2020-2021)
  • News article in 鈥濿elt am Sonntag鈥� (鈥濳ampf dem Kunststoff鈥�) (2021)
  • Poster and Oral presentation at the stakeholder event 鈥淲aterkant Festival鈥� (2020)

Collaborators

Ulisses Rocha, UFZ Leipzig, Germany

Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, UFZ Leipzig, Germany

Nick Wierckx, Research Centre J眉lich, Germany

D枚rte Rother, Research Centre J眉lich, Germany

Alexander Bartholom盲us, GFZ Potsdam, Germany

Gunnar Gerdts, AWI Helgoland, Germany

Antonio Garcia-Moyano, NORCE Bergen, Norway

Gro Bjerga, NORCE Bergen, Norway

Detmer Sipkema, Wageningen University, Netherlands

Aurelio Hidalgo, CBM CSIC Madrid, Spain

Claudio Angione, Teeside University Middlesbrough, UK

Research cruises

  • Feb./Mar. 2022: MSM106 on RV Maria S. Merian (WASCAL floating University)
  • Nov. 2020 - Jan. 2021: SO279 on RV "Sonne" (plastic pollution expedition to the North Atlantic Garbage patch)
  • Aug./Sep. 2019: POS536 on RV 鈥淧oseidon鈥� (plastic pollution expedition to the North Atlantic Garbage patch)
  • May 2019: AL522 on RV 鈥淎lkor鈥� (fisheries and hydrography, Baltic Sea)