Tel: +32 9 264 59 76
Email: nico.boon@ugent.be
Our research focuses on the microbial ecology of various ecosystems including the gastrointestinal lumen. The areas of interests have been the development of molecular methods for the qualitative and quantitative description of microorganisms and investigations of microbial processes in carbon and nitrogen cycling, novel bioaugmentation strategies for xenobiotics and the bioprecipitation and application of catalytic particles. Recently, the research interests are focussed on the development of new microbial ecological theories to link the microbial community structure to functionality. The central theme of this research is to understand of the composition, functionality and the limits under which a microbial community can (optimally) perform. This strategy is called Microbial Resource Management (MRM).
Next Generation Sequencing, Fluorescent in situ Hybridisation, Real-Time PCR and Flow Cytometry for the qualitative and quantitative description of microorganisms.