An article by the lab members has been published in the UTMNexus magazine (April 2023 issue). UTMNexus is a publication coordinated by UTM DVCRI office, targeted at the general public, showcasing the state-of-the-art research conducted by the university researchers. Our article describes the role of microorganisms in climate change and energy security, in line with the theme of this issue. We introduced the readers to the characteristics and biotechnological potentials of archaea, which is among the least understood groups of microbes, in carbon capture and conversion. The article was also co-authored by our collaborators from PETRONAS Research Sdn. Bhd. 

Read the article here: https://indd.adobe.com/view/c3f850ba-3dcf-4368-b682-ab813e43932d
Find out more about UTMNexus: https://research.utm.my/magazine/

Eka Latiffah Nadia Dzulkarnain recently submitted her final hardbound Master of Philosophy (MPhil) thesis. Eka’s research project was on the effects of different heat pretreatment temperatures on biohydrogen production using inoculum from anaerobic sludge. She also investigated the changes caused by the pretreatment to the microbial community dynamics and functional potentials using metagenomics. We wish her all the best in all her future endeavours!

Julia Ameera Johari bagged the first prize in the Biosciences 3-Minute Presentation (3MP) Competition held at the Faculty of Science recently. Julia is working on her Final Year Undergraduate Project in the lab, investigating the isotopic methane production from methanogenic microbial community in anaerobic sludge. Congratulations Julia!

A coffee session with the lab members was held on 14 December 2022, to commemorate Eka’s successful defence of her MPhil thesis on 13 December 2022. It was good to talk science and life over coffee and cakes!

I was grateful to be given the opportunity to contribute to the Science Diplomacy magazine, which is a publication by the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, India. I took the opportunity to write about my personal journey to science diplomacy, starting with my interest in international affairs and relations, to my participation in the TWAS-AAAS Course on Science Diplomacy in Trieste, Italy.
Read about it here (open-access). Click here for the Science Diplomacy magazine page.

We recently published a review on the microbiomes of biohydrogen production from dark fermentation of industrial wastes, with a special focus on palm oil mill effluent. Read the review at this link (open-access).

Abstract

Biohydrogen production through dark fermentation is very attractive as a solution to help mitigate the effects of climate change, via cleaner bioenergy production. Dark fermentation is a process where organic substrates are converted into bioenergy, driven by a complex community of microorganisms of different functional guilds. Under‐ standing of the microbiomes underpinning the fermentation of organic matter and conversion to hydrogen, and the interactions among various distinct trophic groups during the process, is critical in order to assist in the process optimisations. Research in biohydrogen production via dark fermentation is currently advancing rapidly, and various microbiology and molecular biology tools have been used to investigate the microbiomes. We reviewed here the different systems used and the production capacity, together with the diversity of the microbiomes used in the dark fermentation of industrial wastes, with a special emphasis on palm oil mill effluent (POME). The current challenges associated with biohydrogen production were also included. Then, we summarised and discussed the different molecular biology tools employed to investigate the intricacy of the microbial ecology associated with biohydrogen production. Finally, we included a section on the future outlook of how microbiome‐based technologies and knowl‐ edge can be used effectively in biohydrogen production systems, in order to maximise the production output.

Reference: Dzulkarnain et al. 2022. Microbiomes of Biohydrogen Production from Dark Fermentation of Industrial Wastes: Current Trends, Advanced Tools and Future Outlook. Bioresources and Bioprocessing. 9(16). 1-25. DOI: 10.1186/s40643-022-00504-8

Update: The position has been filled. Thank you for all the interests.

One (1) MPhil by research position is available in my lab. The project involves sampling trips at palm oil mill, sample DNA extraction, metagenomics sequencing, and computational biology analysis of the sequencing data.

Requirements: Malaysian citizen with BSc degree in Industrial Biology, Biology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Chemistry and similar, with minimum CPA 3.00.

Monthly allowance will be provided to the successful candidate, up to 18 months.

Kindly email me with your CV at firdausw@utm.my. Position is open until filled.

Our article on biohydrogen production from POME at mesophilic temperature is now published in Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (Springer). We reported in the article the acclimatization of the sludge inoculum to increasing POME concentration, accompanied by analysis of microbial community changes during the acclimatization process. The physicochemical parameters for biohydrogen production using the acclimatized sludge as inoculum and POME as substrate was later optimized using response surface methodology (RSM)-based design of experiment.

Reference: Audu, J.O., Ibrahim, N., Ibrahim, Z. et al. Optimization of the operational parameters for mesophilic biohydrogen production from palm oil mill effluent using enriched mixed culture. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01488-9

Artikel saya yang diterbitkan di laman web Malaysia Gazette berkenaan peningkatan pembacaan maklumat saintifik di kalangan rakyat Malaysia, untuk lebih memahami situasi semasa pandemik ini. Artikel penuh boleh dicapai di pautan dibawah.

Harmful algal bloom (HAB) leading to fish kills is no longer a rare occurrence in Malaysian waters, particularly the strategically and economically important Johor Straits. It is a national border between Malaysia and Singapore, and the coastal areas of both sides are dotted with aquaculture, industrial and residential activities.

In our recent paper published in July 2020, in collaboration with the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES), University of Malaya, we discovered the presence a hypoxic-anoxic “dead zone” (low dissolved oxygen) in the inner Johor Straits, spanning an area of more than 10 km square. We also observed seasonal blooms of diatoms Skeletonema, Chaetoceros, Rhizosolenia and Thalassiosira. Diatoms are important for the marine ecosystems. However high nutrient concentration (particularly from human activities) in the water may lead to excessive proliferation of diatoms, inducing the hypoxic-anoxic conditions. Read more here.

This project was funded by the Transdisciplinary Research Grant Scheme (TRGS), Ministry of Education Malaysia.

Reference: Mohd-Din et al. 2020. Prolonged high biomass diatom blooms induced formation of hypoxic-anoxic zones in the inner part of Johor Strait. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10184-6

Image credit: Terence Ong / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)