Seminar announcement: Extreme places and extremophiles

Seminar announcement

Date: Aug. 8, 2013 from 10 am-11am

Venue: Meeting Room, Biofuels Institute

Dr. Juergen Wiegel is a Distinguished Research Professor, University of Georgia, USA. He is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology; he has served on numerous editorial boards and on national and international committees.

He described the family Clostridiaceae and many genera for the first and second editions of Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology as well as The Prokaryotes, and was presented the Bergey Award at the International Union of Microbiological Societies 2008.

Professor Wiegel has conducted research on the microorganisms that are involved in important biochemical transformations, including the acetogenic bacteria, anaerobic and thermophilic cellulolytic bacteria, bacteria involved in ethanol and butanol fermentations.

Professor Wiegel described many novel genus and species of extremophiles, the bacterial species Thermoanaerobacterium wiegelii has been named in his honor.

More recently, he found a group of extremophiles able to grow under the combination of high salt, alkaline pH and high temperature, the halophilic alkalithermophiles. These bacteria constitute the novel order Natranaerobiales.