University Professor Anna Gorbushina is the new head of BAM’s ‘Materials and Environment’ Department

Mrs. University Professor Dr. rer. nat. Anna Gorbushina was appointed head of BAM’s ‘Materials and Environment’ Department on the 1st April 2009. Mrs. Gorbushina heads a department with a broad spectrum of interests in the field of materials and the environment: the profile ranges from the protection of materials from fungi and insect attack to biocide analysis, from material’s emissions to waste treatment and recycling.

At the same time as her appointment as head of BAM’s department, Mrs. Gorbushina was also appointed professor at the Free University of Berlin. The Free University has now established the professorship ‘Materials and Environment’ in the specialist areas of Geosciences and Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy. This joint appointment is a major step in BAM’s and the Free University’s intentions to develop their research activity within materials and the environment to a common scientific understanding.

Materials, environment and biology are closely connected and many biological processes such as biofouling or biofilm formation take place at the interface between the solid substrate and the environment. Biological plant cover and environmental influences can significantly affect the durability and function of materials resulting in biocorrosion. Biological model systems may provide a major contribution to our understanding of these processes.

Biological model systems should be progressively developed in the future and included in the regulatory work as standards. They should be able to be used to assess emissions from materials just as reliably as the physical and chemical methods already known.

BAM has gained an experienced scientist in Mrs. Gorbushina. She habilitated in microbiology at the Institute for Geomicrobiology of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in 2006. Supported by the research scholarships of the Swiss Research Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation she developed a laboratory model at the University of Geneva for the imitation of long-term interactions between microorganisms and materials.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Anna Gorbushina
Department IV Materials and Environment
Phone: +49 30 8104-1400
Email: anna.gorbushina@bam.de

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