What drives me?

Physiological capabilities of microorganisms are stunningly extraordinary. In every corner of our world or facet of our life, microorganisms are responsible for holding it all together with their secret, often invisible functions... For many aspects of life, they represent the glue that connects our macroscopic biology to the inanimate environment. Lifting the curtain on some of these functions and utilizing them for new biotechnological applications is what drives my work. The special niche, on which I focus my work are the interactions of microorganisms with electrodes, which function as synthetic (adjustable and controlled) electron donors or acceptors for microbial biochemical reactions.

University education

2007-2008 Post-Doc, Washington University in St. Louis, MO / USDA-ARS Peoria, IL, USA
                   Advisors: Dr. Lars Angenent, Dr. Mike Cotta

2004-2006 PhD Studies, University of Greifswald, Germany
                   Thesis topic: "Development of microbial fuel cells for power generation from biomass"
                   Advisors: Dr. Uwe Schröder, Dr. Fritz Scholz
                   With a scholarship of the Fond der Chemischen Industrie

1999-2004 Diploma Studies in Biochemistry University of Greifswald
                   Majors in Microbiology and Environmental Chemistry
                   Thesis topic: "Development of microbial fuel cells based on phototrophic microorganisms"
                   Advisors: Dr. Uwe Schröder, Dr. Fritz Scholz

Professional employment

2011-present Juniorprofessor in the field of Microbiology of Defined Mixed Cultures
                    Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

2009-2011 Research Associate
                    Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Current Projects

Five of our scientists (Dr. Alexander Henrich, Thomas Kirchner, Tatiana Rodrigues, Simone Schmitz, and Abdeloihid Belhadi) are currently working within the Cluster of Excellence "Tailor-made fuels from biomass".
In the context of the cluster, we investigate strategies for the microbial electroreduction of biomass intermediates to fuel components. More details will follow soon.


In October 2012, Erick Bosire joined our team as a PhD student. He is going to investigate defined microbial mixed cultures in bioelectrochemical systems.

Further, we obtained a SeedFund grant from the Faculty of Natural Science of Aachen University to develop new photo-bioreactors for the investigation of photosynthetic biocatalysts in bioelectrochemical systems. MSc students Ivan Schlembach and Sebastian Bartmann joined us to work on this project.

 

2013
• Rosenbaum, M.A., Schröder U., Harnisch, F. (2013)
        Mikroben unter Strom: Von der Abwasserreinigung zur Bioelektrotechnologie
        Biologie in unserer Zeit, Vol. 43 Link
• Angenent, L.T., Rosenbaum, M.A. (2013)
        Microbial electrocatalysis to guide biofuel and biochemical bioprocessing 
        Biofuels, Vol. 4 (2) Link
2012
• Rosenbaum, M.A., Bar, H.Y., Beg, Q.K., Segrè, D., Booth, J., Cotta, M.A., Angenent, L.T. (2012)
        Transcriptional analysis of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 with an electrode compared to Fe(III)citrate or oxygen as terminal electron acceptor.
        PLoS One , Vol. 7 (2) Link
• Friedman E.S., Rosenbaum M.A., Lee A.W., Lipson D.A., Land B.R., Angenent, L.T. (2012)
        A cost-effective and field-ready potentiostat that poises subsurface electrodes to monitor bacterial respiration.
        Biosensors and Bioelectronics , Vol. 32 (1) Link
• Li, Z., Venkataraman, A., Rosenbaum, M.A., Angenent, L.T. (2012)
        A laminar-flow microfluidic device for quantitative analysis of microbial electrochemical activity.
        ChemSusChem, Vol. 5 (6) Link
2011
• Rosenbaum, M., Bar, H.Y., Beg, Q.K., Booth, J., Segre, D., Cotta, M.A., Angenent, L.T. (2011)
        Synergistic conversion of glucose into electricity with a co-culture of Shewanella oneidensis and Lactococcus lactis
        Bioresource Technology , Vol. 102 (3) Link
• Venkataraman, A., Rosenbaum, M.A., Perkins, S.D., Werner J.J., Angenent, L.T. (2011)
        Metabolite-based mutualism between Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 and Enterobacter aerogenes enhances current generation in bioelectrochemical systems.
        Energy and Environmental Science , Vol. in press: DOI:10.1039/C1EE01377G Link
• Li, Z., Rosenbaum, M.A., Venkataraman, A., Tam, T.K., Katz, E., Angenent, L.T. (2011)
        Bacteria-based AND logic gate: A decision-making and self-powered biosensor.
        Chemistry Communications , Vol. 47 (11) Link
• Rosenbaum, M., Aulenta, F., Villano, M., Angenent, L. T. (2011)
        Cathodes as electron donors for microbial metabolism: Which extracellular electron transfer mechanisms are involved?
        Bioresource Technology , Vol. 102 (1) Link
2010
• Rosenbaum, M., Schröder, U. (2010)
        Photomicrobial Solar and Fuel Cells
        Electroanalysis , Vol. 22 (7-8) Link
• Venkataraman, A., Rosenbaum, M., Arends, J.B.A., Halitschke, R., Angenent, L.T. (2010)
        Quorum sensing regulates electric current generation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 in bioelectrochemical systems.
        Electrochemistry Communications , Vol. 12 (3) Link
• Rosenbaum, M., Cotta, M.A., Angenent, L.T. (2010)
        Aerated Shewanella oneidensis in continuously-fed bioelectrochemical systems for power and hydrogen production.
        Biotechnology and Bioengineering , Vol. 105 (5) Link
• Fornero, J.J., Rosenbaum, M., Angenent, L.T. (2010)
        Electric power generation from municipal, food, and animal wastewaters using microbial fuel cells.
        Electroanalysis , Vol. 22 (7-8) Link
• Fornero, J.J., Rosenbaum, M., Cotta, M.A., Angenent, L.T. (2010)
        Carbon dioxide addition to microbial fuel cell cathodes maintains sustainable catholyte pH and improves anolyte pH, alkalinity, and conductivity.
        Environmental Science and Technology , Vol. 44 (7) Link
• Rosenbaum, M., He, Z., Angenent, L.T. (2010)
        Light energy to bioelectricity: photosynthetic microbial fuel cells.
        Current Opinion in Biotechnology , Vol. 21 (3) Link
2008
• Burakov, V. S., Butsen, A. V., Brüser, V., Harnisch, F., Misakov, P. Y., Nevar, E. A., Rosenbaum, M., Savastenko, N. A., Tarasenko, N.V. (2008)
        Synthesis of tungsten carbide nanopowder via submerged discharge method.
        Journal of Nanoparticle Research , Vol. 10 (5) Link
• Fornero, J.J., Rosenbaum, M., Cotta, M.A., Angenent, L.T. (2008)
        Microbial fuel cell performance with a pressurized cathode.
        Environmental Science and Technology , Vol. 42 (22) Link
2007
• Rosenbaum, M., Zhao, F., Quaas, M., Wulff, H., Schröder, U., Scholz, F. (2007)
        Evaluation of catalytic properties of tungsten carbide for the anode of microbial fuel cells.
        Applied Catalysis B: Environmental , Vol. 74 (3-4) Link
2006
• Rosenbaum, M., Schröder, U., Scholz, F. (2006)
        Electrocatalytic oxidation of formate and ethanol at platinum black under microbial fuel cell conditions.
        Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry , Vol. 10 (10) Link
• Rosenbaum, M., Zhao, F., Schröder, U., Scholz, F. (2006)
        Interfacing electrocatalysis and biocatalysis using tungsten carbide: A high performance noble-metal-free microbial fuel cell.
        Angewandte Chemie, International Edition , Vol. 45 (40) Link
• Niessen, J., Harnisch, F., Rosenbaum, M., Schröder, U., Scholz, F. (2006)
        Heat treated soil as convenient and versatile source of bacterial communities for microbial electricity generation.
        Electrochemistry Communications , Vol. 8 (5) Link
2005
• Rosenbaum, M., Schröder, U., Scholz, F. (2005)
        Utilizing the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for microbial electricity generation: A living solar cell.
        Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology , Vol. 68 (6) Link
2004
• Niessen, J., Schröder, U., Rosenbaum, M., Scholz, F. (2004)
        Fluorinated polyanilines as superior materials for electrocatalytic anodes in bacterial fuel cells.
        Electrochemistry Communications , Vol. 6 (6) Link

2010
• Rosenbaum, M. and L. T. Angenent (2010)
        Rabaey, K., Angenent, L. T., Schröder, U. and J. Keller: Bioelectrochemical Systems: from extracellular electron transfer to biotechnological application
        , London: International Water Association, UK
• Rosenbaum, M. and L. T. Angenent (2010)
        Rabaey, K., Angenent, L. T., Schröder, U. and J. Keller: Bioelectrochemical Systems: from extracellular electron transfer to biotechnological application
        , London: International Water Association, UK

2012
• Henrich, Alexander W.; Kirchner, Thomas M.; Schmitz, Simone; Rosenbaum, Miriam A. (2012)
        Tailoring Clostridium ljungdahlii for Electroreduction:An Approach to Biocatalytic Transformation
        EU-ISMET , Ghent, Belgium
• Rodrigues, Tatiana C.; Kirchner, Thomas M.; Henrich, Alexander W.; Schmitz, Simone; Belhadi, Abdeluahid; Milker, Sofia; Rosenbaum, Miriam A. (2012)
        Microbial Electroreduction of Biomass Intermediates to Fuels 
        TMFB Workshop, Aachen, Germany
• Rodrigues, Tatiana C.; Rosenbaum, Miriam A. (2012)
        Screening for New Electrosynthetic Microbial Biocatalysts 
        1st European “International Society of Microbial Electrochemical Technology” Meeting EU-ISMET, Ghent, Belgium