Brief Biography:

Alejandro Palomo-Gonzalez received his PhD degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. In his doctoral thesis, he investigated the microbial communities that populate groundwater-fed rapid sand filters using omics-based bioinformatic approaches and lab-scale bioreactor experimentation. His investigations led to the co-discovery of complete ammonia oxidizing bacteria (aka comammox bacteria). This discovery has been a significant event because it changes our understanding of the biochemical nitrogen cycle. Prior to his current position at SUSTech, he worked at as a Postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Denmark. During this work, he explored the ecology, genomics, physiology and evolution of the newly discovered comammox microorganism. His research interests focus on better understanding the role of microorganisms in the main biogeochemical processes occurring in natural ecosystems and engineering systems. He is specialized in systems microbiology approaches to examine the structure and functioning of microbial communities. Dr. Palomo have published high quality research papers in prestigious scientific journals in environmental microbiology as The ISME Journal, Environmental Microbiology, etc.

Working Experience:

2021-present: Research Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology

2017-2019: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark

Education:

2014-2017 PhD, Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark

2012-2013 MSc, Microbiology, Autonomous University of Madrid

2007-2012 BSc, Biology, Autonomous University of Madrid and Aarhus University

Awards and Honours:

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellowship 2014-2017

Otto Mønsteds Fond Grant 2015, 2016 and 2019

The Fonds de recherche du Québec-Nature et technologies (FRQNT) Grant 2016

Synergistic Activities:

Board member of the 10th Nordic Environmental NUcleotide Network (NENUN) Workshop. Uppsala, Sweden. September 2019.

Board member of the 9th Nordic Environmental NUcleotide Network (NENUN) Workshop. Copenhagen, Denmark. November 2018.

Organizing committee of MEWE and Biofilms IWA Specialist conference. Copenhagen, Denmark. September 2016.

Reviewer for SCI international journals: The ISME Journal, Water Research, Environmental Science & Technology, Environmental Microbiology, FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Research Interests:

1) Community structure and functionality of microbial communities in natural and engineering systems

2) Role of microorganisms in main biochemical cycles (e.g.: Nitrogen cycle)

3) Microbial ecology, physiology, genomics and evolution

4) Microbiology in biological drinking water treatment process

5) High-throughput sequencing-based Metagenomics and Metatranscriptomics

Publications:

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VGBij7QAAAAJ&hl=en

1)      Journal Publications:

Palomo, A., Dechesne, A., Smets, B.F (2019). Genomic profiling of Nitrospira species reveals ecological success of comammox Nitrospira. BioRxiv. doi:10.1101/612226

Palomo, A., Pedersen A.G., Fowler, S.J., Dechesne, A., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F (2018). Comparative genomics sheds light on niche differentiation and the evolutionary history of comammox Nitrospira. ISME J. 12(7):1779–1793

Palomo, A., Fowler, S.J., Rasmussen, S., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F (2016). Metagenomic analysis of rapid gravity sand filter microbial communities suggests novel physiology of Nitrospira spp. ISME J. 10, 2569–2581

Niederdorfer, R., Hausherr, D., Palomo, A., Wei, J., Magyar, P., Smets, BF, Joss, A., Bürgmann, H. (2021) Temperature modulates stress response in mainstream anammox reactors Communications Biology 4 (1), 1-12

Wang, S, Ishii, K, Yu, H, Shi, X, Smets, B.F., Palomo, A., Zuo, J. (2021) Stable nitrogen removal by anammox process after rapid temperature drops: Insights from metagenomics and metaproteomics. Bioresource technology 320, 124231

Tian, Z., Palomo, A., Zhang, H., Luan, L., Liu, R., Awad, M., Smets, B.F., Yang, M., Zhang, Y. (2020) Minimum influent concentrations of oxytetracycline, streptomycin and spiramycin in selecting antibiotic resistance in biofilm type wastewater treatment systems. Science of the Total Environment 720, 137531

Valverde-Pérez, B., Xinga, W., Zachariaea, AA, Skadborga, MM, Kjeldgaarda, AF, Palomo, A., Smets, BF. (2020) Cultivation of methanotrophic bacteria in a novel bubble-free membrane bioreactor for microbial protein production. Bioresource Technology 310, 123388

Yan, M., Fotidis, I., Jéglot, A., Tian, H., Treub, L., Palomo, A., Zhu, X., Angelidaki, I.  (2020) Long-term preserved and rapidly revived methanogenic cultures: Microbial dynamics and preservation mechanisms. Journal of Cleaner Production 263, 121577

Fowler, S.J., Palomo, A., Smets, B.F. (2018) Comammox Nitrospira are the dominant ammonia oxidizers in diverse rapid sand filter communities. Environ Microbiol, 20: 1002-1015

Dechesne, A., Musovic, S., Palomo, A., Diwan, V., Smets, B.F. (2016). Underestimation of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria abundance by amplification bias in amoA-targeted qPCR. Microb Biotechnol 9: 519–524

2)      Selected Conferences Presentations

Palomo, A., Dechesne, A., Pedersen, A.G., Smets, B.F. Diversity, ecological success, and habitat preference of comammox Nitrospira revealed by metagenomics profiling. 6th International Conference on Nitrification and Related Processes (ICON), 2019, Xiamen, China. Oral presentation

Palomo, A., Fowler, S.J., Dechesne, A., Pedersen, A.G., Gülay A., Rasmussen, S., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F. (2018). Discovery and description of complete ammonia oxidizers in rapid sand filters. 8th Nordic Environmental NUcleotide Network (NENUN), 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark. Oral presentation

Palomo, A., Fowler, S.J., Dechesne, A., Pedersen, A.G., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F. Niche differentiation and evolution of comammox Nitrospira through a comparative genomics analysis. 5th International Conference on Nitrification and Related Processes (ICON), 2017, Vienna, Austria. Oral presentation

Palomo, A., Fowler, S.J., Rasmussen, S., Schramm, A., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F. Investigating comammox Nitrospira in rapid sand filters via metagenomics and single-cell genomics. Microbial Ecology in Water Engineering (MEWE) & Biofilms 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark. Oral Presentation

Palomo A, Gülay A, Rasmussen S, Sicheritz-Pontén T, Smets B.F. Taxonomic and Metagenomic profiling of rapid sand filter microbiome reveals a high Nitrospira incidence. 4th International Conference on Nitrification and Related Processes (ICON), 2015, Edmonton, Canada. Oral Presentation

Palomo, A., Fowler, S.J., Rasmussen, S., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F. Genomic and ecological variation in comammox Nitrospira populations. 17th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME), 2018, Leipzig, Germany. Poster Presentation

Palomo, A., Fowler, S.J., Rasmussen, S., Sicheritz-Pontén, T., Smets, B.F. Metagenomics and single-cell genomics reveal high abundance of comammox Nitrospira in a rapid gravity sand filter treating groundwater. 16th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME), 2016, Montreal, Canada. Poster Presentation