Dr Julia Kleinteich has joined in November 2013 the team of BCCM/ULC to investigate the presence of cyanotoxins and secondary metabolites in the polar cyanobacterial strains of the public collection. She has obtained a post-doc fellowship for 2 years granted by the University of Liège thanks to the Federal subsidies for research and the FP7 people Marie Curie COFUND.
The research project includes a first screening step for the presence of genetic loci associated with secondary metabolites and analytical detection of produced compounds. Strains with positive results will be analysed in detail by Next Generation Sequencing. The project will contribute to the detection of new toxic or bioactive substances, and help to clarify the distribution and evolutionary history of these compounds.