Waterborne diseases are posing a constant threat for people. In developing countries there is a lack of microbiologically safe drinking water and in the developed countries there are occasional waterborne disease outbreaks. These diseases are caused by bacteria or parasites which can be found in various …

As part of the theme 13 and 14, our group have to realize a project in the field of the renewable energy. This project consist of the design of a bio-digester for the canteen of Zernikeplein. Gert Hofstede is our client. To produce energy, a bio-digester uses the anaerobic digestion, which is made of …

Probiotic bacteria harbor effector molecules that confer health benefits, but also adaptation factors that enable them to persist in the gastrointestinal tract of the consumer. To study these adaptation factors, an antibiotic-resistant derivative of the probiotic model organism Lactobacillus plantarum …

ALIFE The “all-in-one” method to measure the Total Dietary Fibre content was implemented at the Hanze University of Applies Sciences. Wholemeal bread and crackers showed the expected % of TDF (approx. 6 and10 %, respectively). Enzymatic treatment with a novel starch-modifying enzyme clearly resulted …

Next-generation sequencing technology allows culture- independent analysis of species and genes present in a complex microbial community. Such metagenomics may overcome the inability to culture microbes in isolation. Microbial communities of interest are for example responsible for making biogas. Many …

ALIFE:The “as eaten” method to measure the Total Dietary Fibre content was implemented at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (WP 4). The enzymatic treatment with the GtfB enzyme clearly resulted in an increased fibre content of starch from 1.6% to approx. 20% (fig A). When using this modified starch …

The “as eaten” method to measure the Total Dietary Fibre content and an in vitro fermentation with colon bacteria were successfully coupled to see if fibre fractions have a prebiotic effect. Similar growth pattern for modified starch, FOS and GOS were observed (Fig A). The qPCR results indicate a significant …

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a fast and reliable method for the identification of bacteria from agar media. Direct identification from positive blood cultures should decrease the time to obtaining the result. In this study, three different …

tmoA and related genes encode the alpha-subunit of the hydroxylase component of the major group (subgroup 1 of subfamily 2) of bacterial multicomponent mono-oxygenase enzyme complexes involved in aerobic benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) degradation. A PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis …

Eight new primer sets were designed for PCR detection of (i) mono-oxygenase and dioxygenase gene sequences involved in initial attack of bacterial aerobic BTEX degradation and of (ii) catechol 2,3-dioxygenase gene sequences responsible for meta-cleavage of the aromatic ring. The new primer sets allowed …