GEOMAR  Borchert, Erik

Dr. Erik Borchert

Borchert, Erik

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 (ERA-NET Marine Biotechnology ProBone, BMBF PLASTISEA)
  • 2017 PhD in Microbiology, University College Cork (Ireland)
  • 2014-2017 PhD student, University College Cork (Ireland)
  • 2013 MSc Biochemistry, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena (Germany)
  • 2011 BSc Biochemistry, 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

Publications

  • 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. https://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 https://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, https://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., https://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 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

- 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)

- 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

Wolfgang Streit, University Hamburg, DE

Karl-Erich Jaeger, Research Centre Jülich, DE

Ulrich Schwaneberg, RWTH Aachen, DE

Ruth Schmitz-Streit, University Kiel, DE

Gunnar Gerdts, AWI Helgoland, DE

Gisela Lannig-Bock, AWI Bremerhaven, DE

Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, UFZ Leipzig, DE

Annika Jahnke, UFZ Leipzig, DE

Antonio Garcia-Moyano, NORCE Bergen, Norway

Gro Bjerga, NORCE Bergen, Norway

Manuel Ferrer, CSIC Madrid, Spain

Alan Dobson, UCC Cork, Ireland

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)