The main aim of the group is the study microbial populations and isolated microbial strains in natural environments and mostly in environments created by man like food products, water sources, and polluted waters or microbial/host pairs. The dynamics of growth, survival and biochemical activity of microorganisms in these environments is integrated in microbial and molecular biology tasks which are expected to evaluate which are the members of the microbial communities present, its dynamics and biochemical activity along the production/growth process. Study cases considered along the years included: traditional food products to propose new ways of early estimation of the food quality, the study of the microbial populations responsible for pollutant removal, or the study of different processes of removal of microbes for a safer water supply.
Populations and isolates have been studied using DNA or total DNA, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), cloning, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, microscopy, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and other strategies, in order to identify and characterize the members of the population responsible for optimal processes operation/production.
Also, due to the knowledge in microbiology, studies of specific microbial groups which have other applications, like agricultural applications, are considered by the team, namely nitrogen fixing bacteria.