Newcastle Branch Lunch Event - Remediation and the Role of Biology - A Bioremediation Lunch & Learn Session

Lunch and learn and hear from key industry and academic minds on the roles biology plays in environmental restoration and management of problematic and emerging contaminants.

We will cover topics such as mine site rehabilitation, metals management, microplastics, organohalides (including chlorinated solvents and PFAS) and hydrocarbons.

There will be time to network with peers and have a bite to eat too - all while the sun is still up!

Please note that this is not a formal dinner event. Your ticket includes a complimentary drink and a selection of appetizers.

BYO! To minimise our use of plastic, we encourage delegates to bring their own reusable water bottles.

Mike Manefield
Professor, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
UNSW

Mike is an environmental microbiologist who teaches environmental science and engineering in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW. His primary research interest is in pollutant biodegradation.

He has published over 145 articles and supervised over 45 PhD, Masters and Honours candidates to completion. He is founder of Micronovo supporting Australian industry with environmental microbiology expertise.

Simon Grimes
Director
Micronovo Technologies Pty Ltd

Simon is a Chemical Engineer who leads Micronovo Technologies Pty Ltd that provides microbiology products, services and expertise to the remediation, aquaculture and other industries.

He is a seasoned leader of B2B industrial products businesses across petroleum, manufacturing and building industries who has become fascinated by the microverse. He's passionate about driving the update of bioremediation as a low cost and light touch approach.

Megh Mallavarapu
Professor – Environmental Biotechnology
University of Newcastle

Megh is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of microbial degradation of pollutants and environmental toxicology/remediation. Megh’s research interests include the ecological risk assessment of both organic and inorganic contaminants with special reference to mix contamination, determination of fate and behaviour of pollutants including their bioavailability and toxicity in the environment, and development of remediation technologies for contaminants.

Megh played a major role in demonstrating evidence in relation to the impact of microorganisms from environmental sources have upon drugs, their precursors, and manufacturing by-products. This study identified which chemicals associated with clandestine drug laboratories persist in the environment, in order to allow forensic drug chemists to link discarded residues with the method of manufacture, and to allow the environmental impact of clandestine drug laboratories to be assessed accurately. He demonstrated the role of soil algae/cyanobacteria in degradation/detoxification of several contaminants. Soil algae form an important component of soil microflora but are generally neglected by microbiologists. Megh is one of the few scientists working in this important area of research involving soil algae.

Megh and his colleagues have implemented natural attenuation at field scale as an effective remediation strategy for hydrocarbon impacted soils/groundwater sites. Also, Megh made significant contributions to the field-scale remediation of TCE contaminated groundwater sites. Megh and colleagues have conducted research into the chemical characterisation of a new aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) products including Per/Polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), developed new analytical methods and demonstrated the fate and behaviour of these products regarding their persistence and toxicity in soil, freshwater and marine environments.

Dr Amelia Corzo Remigio
University Queensland

Amelia focuses on developing novel methods to rehabilitate contaminated mine wastes using metallophytes. She is a research fellow at the Environmental Centres, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland.

While conducting her PhD, Amelia was recognized for her multidisciplinary environmental research by winning the Australasian Institute of 2021 Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) BHP EIANZ S&E Student Award. She successfully secured three grant applications with the Australian Synchrotron (ANSTO) to conduct experiments using X-ray fluorescence microscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy beamline to advance the understanding of metal(loid) pathways in plants.

Amelia has published 12 scientific manuscripts in top journals.