He Sun

BI1248 Microbiology 2018 (Lab teacher)

BI1248 Microbiology 2019 (Lab teacher)

Antibiotic resistance in biogas processes is always one of my biggest interests. My goal is to determine antibiotic resistance level in biogas digestate and their transferability, in order to assure the safety of use of digestate as fertiliser. Also, I am interested in reduction of antibiotic resistance during biogas process by optimized operational approaches such as temperature, hydrolytic retention time, ammonia level etc. My expertise includes a) isolation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) aerobically/anaerobically from digestates processed from various substrates e.g. animal manure, food waste, energy crops, and determination of their antibiotic susceptibility; b) identification of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and their variation in abundance through biogas processes; c) analysis of mechanism of resistance for ARB, especially to critically important antibiotic classes e.g. carbapenems; d) analysis of transferability of antibiotic resistance. 

Methane (CH4) emission during biogas digestate storage is another focus of my current interests. In order to reduce CH4 emission, different approaches have been applied for storage tanks. My work is to analyse the microbial community (especially methanogens) in the digestates, and correlate it to the amount of CH4 emission for different approaches. The work will suggest promising approaches for digestate storage, with least CH4 emission.

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Uppsala | Ph.D. 

Biology with specialisation in Microbiology, 01/2022

China Agricultural University - Beijing | Master of Science 

Agricultural biological environment and energy engineering, 06/2016

China Agricultural University - Beijing | Bachelor of Science 

Agricultural structural environment and energy engineering, 06/2013

Master thesis:  Isolation of antibiotic resistant bacteria from biogas digester using aerobic and anaerobic cultivation. As co-supervisor for student: Lisa Ahrens, 2021-2022. 

1. Sun, H., Schnürer, A., Müller, B., Mößnang, B., Lebuhn, M. & Makarewicz, O (2022). Uncovering antimicrobial resistance in three agricultural biogas plants using plant-based substrates. Science of the Total Environment 829, 154556.

2. Sun, H. (2021). Antibiotic resistance in biogas processes. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

3. Sun, H., Brandt, C. & Schnürer, A. (2020). Long-read DNA preparation for bacterial isolates. protocols.io 1–5.

4. Sun, H., Bjerketorp, J., Levenfors, J.J. & Schnürer, A., (2020). Isolation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in biogas digestate and their susceptibility to antibiotics. Environmental Pollution 266, 115265.

Microbial Biotechnology

ResearchGate