Dr. Erik Borchert
Research Division 3: Marine Ecology
RU Marine Symbioses
Office:
Room: 4.512
Phone: +49 431 600-4485
Email: eborchert@geomar.de
Address:
Wischhofstraße 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 ‘Multi-Omic’ 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’s 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 Skłodowska 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 „Treasures from the Deep“. Brussels, Belgium (March 2019)
- 2014-2017 Marie Skłodowska Curie initial training network (MC-ITN) fellowship, BluePharmTrain
Third party funding
- AI MareExplore: Utilizing AI for marine enzyme discovery to address human-made grand challenges (Helmholtz Innovation Pool Projekt 2025-2027)
- XTREAM: Sustainable exploration and biodiscovery of novel products and processes from extreme aquatic microbiomes to expedite the circular bioeconomy (HORIZON-RIA EU 2025-2028)
- P-LEACH: Impacts on ecosystem functions and human helath by environmental plastics and associated chemicals
- BioProMare: PLASTISEA Harvesting the Marine Plastisphere for Novel and Innovative Biotechnology Concepts BMBF (February 2020 to January 2023)
- Capri Sun: Degradation of paper straws - Capri Sun Vertriebs GmbH (March 2020 to March 2022)
- ERA-NET Marine Biotechnology: ProBone - New tools for prospecting the marine bone-degrading microbiome for new enzymes BMBF (March 2018 to August 2021)
Publications
- Lips S, Schmitt-Jansen M, Borchert E (2024) Metagenomic analysis of the plastisphere reveals a common functional potential across oceans. biorxiv doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.29.610283
- Turak O, Gagsteiger A, Upadhyay A, Kriegel M, Salein P, Agarwal S, Borchert E, Höcker B (2024) A third tye of PETase from the marine Halopseudomonas lineage. biorxiv doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.31.630877
- 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 für den Plastikabbau. Biospektrum 28, 594–596. DOI: doi.org/10.1007/s12268-022-1848-9
- 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 doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2021.11.027
- 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, doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12135
- Borchert E, Hammerschmidt K, Hentschel U and Deines P (2021) Enhancing microbial pollutant degradation by integrating eco-evolutionary principles with environmental biotechnology. Trends Microbiol., doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2021.03.002
- 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, Künzel 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, Künzel 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, Göker 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, Einarsdóttir 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’Flynn S, Jackson SA, Jóhannsson R, Marteinsson VT, O’Gara F, Dobson ADW (2017) Biotechnological potential of cold adapted Pseudoalteromonas spp. isolated from ‘deep sea’ sponges. Mar. Drugs, 15, 184
- Borchert E, Selvin J, Kiran GS, Jackson SA, O’Gara 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’Gara 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" Würzburg, 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 “Treasures from the Deep”. “ProBone – New tools for prospecting the marine bone-degrading microbiome for novel enzymes” Brussels, Belgium (March 2019)
- Poster at the 17th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME). “Biotechnological potential of deep sea sponge microbiomes for novel cold adapted enzymes and secondary metabolite gene clusters” Leipzig, Germany (August 2018)
- Oral presentation at the “Blue Symposium – Sponges, Corals and the World”. “Biotechnological potential and comparative genomics of Pseudoalteromonas spp. from deep sea sponges” Blanes, Spain (March 2017)
- Oral presentation at the 11th International Marine Biotechnology Conference. “Diversity of natural product biosynthetic genes in deep sea sponges” Baltimore, MD, USA (September 2016)
- Poster at the 11th International Marine Biotechnology Conference. “Comparative genomics of Pseudoalteromonas spp. isolates from three different deep sea sponges” Baltimore, MD, USA (September 2016)
- Oral presentation at the Sea Change Researchers Workshop. “Exploiting the biotechnological potential of deep sea sponges” Galway, Ireland (June 2016)
- Poster at the GEOMAR Biotech Mini Symposium. “The biological potential of the microbial community of deep sea sponges Poecillastra compressa and Stelletta normani” Kiel, Germany (December 2015)
- Oral short presentation and Poster at the 2nd International Symposium on Sponge Microbiology. “The biological potential of the microbial community of deep sea sponges Poecillastra compressa and Stelletta normani” Baltimore, MD, USA (October 2014)
- Poster at the Weimar Sepsis Update. “The multiple roles of the hyphae-regulating transcription factor Cph2 in Candida albicans” 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 Nordström, Vincent Richter, Stefan Schmiedel
- students lab GEOMAR
Outreach activities
- Presentation in the seminar series of the “Bund Deutscher Verpackungsingenieure” (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 „Welt am Sonntag“ („Kampf dem Kunststoff“) (2021)
- Poster and Oral presentation at the stakeholder event “Waterkant Festival” (2020)
Collaborators
Ulisses Rocha, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
Nick Wierckx, Research Centre Jülich, Germany
Dörte Rother, Research Centre Jülich, Germany
Alexander Bartholomäus, 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 “Poseidon” (plastic pollution expedition to the North Atlantic Garbage patch)
- May 2019: AL522 on RV “Alkor“ (fisheries and hydrography, Baltic Sea)