Bilde av Christensen, Mikkel
Bilde av Christensen, Mikkel
Kemiija instituhtta mikkel.christensen@uit.no +4528300732 Tromsø

Mikkel Christensen


Virgečilgehus

We investigate bacteria isolated from the arctic marine environment that produce Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as intracellular storage polymers. PHA is extracted from bacteria and used as a bioplastic due to attractive material properties including degradation in marine environments. It is currently produced at industrial scale although at very low quantities compared to recalcitrant oil-plastics that we all use in our everyday life. Discovery and optimization of PHA producing bacteria will hopefully lead to a future of sustainable bioplastic production.

Our work consist of a combination of 

Microbiology (Fluorescence microscopy, 16s rDNA identification, growth optimization)
Analytical chemistry (Quantification of PHA production using FTIR and GC/MS) 
Bioinformatics (Genome assembly and downstream analyses)
Genetic engineering (eg. CRISPR/CAS9; projected work)

Are you a student and interested in an informal talk about our work? Please contact us! 

Read more:

https://framsenteret.no/forum/2019/confronting-one-of-our-greatest-challenges-plastic-waste-in-nature/ (Public outreach article)

MarVal project - "From unexploited marine biomass to high value products" (A UiT Interdisciplinary Research project)
https://site.uit.no/marval/

MarPlast project - "Marine microorganisms for bioplastics production" (Partners from Umeå University and University of Bucharest)
http://site.uit.no/marplast/

or say hello! on LinkedIn 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikkel-christensen-b099a7a9/ 


  • Mikkel Christensen, Iulia Chiciudean, Piotr Jablonski, Ana Maria Tanase, Volha Shapaval, Hilde Hansen :
    Towards high-throughput screening (HTS) of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy of Halomonas sp. R5-57 and Pseudomonas sp. MR4-99
    PLOS ONE 2023 ARKIV / DOI
  • Mikkel Christensen, Piotr Jablonski, Bjørn Altermark, Knut Irgum, Hilde Hansen :
    High natural PHA production from acetate in Cobetia sp. MC34 and Cobetia marina DSM 4741T and in silico analyses of the genus specific PhaC2 polymerase variant
    Microbial Cell Factories 2021 ARKIV / FULLTEKST / DOI
  • Bent Larsen Petersen, Svenning Rune Moller, Jozef Mravec, Bodil Jørgensen, Mikkel Christensen, Ying Liu et al.:
    Improved CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing by fluorescence activated cell sorting of green fluorescence protein tagged protoplasts
    BMC Biotechnology 2019 ARKIV / DOI
  • Piotr Jablonski, Ngoc Phuoc Dinh, Irina Lascu, Ana-Maria Tănase, Mikkel Christensen, Santosh Govind Khokarale et al.:
    Scalable and Sustainable Processing of Intracellular Polyhydroxyalkanoates with Biobased Solvents
    ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering 2023 DOI
  • Iulia Chiciudean, Ioana Mereuta, Elena Luiza Mihalachi, Irina Lascu, Sorin Marius Avramescu, Piotr Jablonski et al.:
    Halotolerant Black Sea bacteria for bioplastics production
    2019
  • Hilde Hansen, Bjørn Altermark, Mikkel Christensen :
    Confronting Plastic Pollution With Bacteria
    Journal of the North Atlantic & Arctic 2019 FULLTEKST
  • Mikkel Christensen, Piotr Jablonski, Seila Pandur, Netsanet Gizaw Assefa, Bjørn Altermark, Hilde Hansen :
    Investigation of promising bioplastic producing Arctic marine bacteria from the Halomonadacea family
    2019
  • Netsanet Gizaw Assefa, Mikkel Christensen, Seila Pandur, Bjørn Altermark, Hilde Hansen :
    Conversion of renewable feedstocks into bioplastics by Arctic marine bacteria
    2019
  • Hilde Hansen, Bjørn Altermark, Mikkel Christensen :
    Confronting one of our greatest challenges – plastic waste in nature
    Fram Forum 2019 FULLTEKST
  • Mikkel Christensen :
    Arctic marine bacteria for bioplastic production
    2018
  • Mikkel Christensen, Piotr Jablonski, Seila Pandur, Netsanet Gizaw Assefa, Bjørn Altermark, Hilde Hansen :
    Arctic marine bacteria for bioplastic production
    2018 ARKIV
  • Mikkel Christensen, Bjørn Altermark, Netsanet Gizaw Assefa, Seila Pandur, Arne O. Smalås, Hilde Hansen :
    Arctic, marine bacteria and their ability to produce polyhydroxyalkonates (PHAs) using underexploited biomass as nutrient source
    2017

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    Undervisning

    Lab supervision and report corrections in course:
    Introduction to Chemistry and Chemical Biology (KJE-1001)