Research Interests

Molecular biology, genomics and physiology of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) 

Petroleum Microbiology: Sulphur cycle management, Corrosion control, Improved production. 

Gerrit Voordouw is the Project Leader of the “Metagenomics for Greener Production and Extraction of Hydrocarbon Energy” Project. This project is funded by Genome Canada, Genome Alberta and Genome BC. Link: www.hydrocarbonmetagenomics.com

 

Courses Taught

Team Members

Awards

2009-Poject Leader, Genome Canada Award, “Metagenomics for Greener Production and Extraction of Hydrocarbon Energy”.
2007-NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Petroleum Microbiology

Selected publications

• Johnston, S. J. and Voordouw, G. 2012. Sulfate-reducing bacteria lower sulfur-mediated pitting corrosion under conditions of oxygen ingress. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46: 9183-9190. (more)
  
• Brown, D., Ramos-Padron, E., Gieg, L. and G. Voordouw. 2012. Effect of calcium ions and anaerobic microbial activity on sedimentation of oil sands tailings. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2012.07.006.
  
• Yurkiw, M. A., J. Voordouw and G. Voordouw. 2012. Contribution of rubredoxin:oxidoreductases and hybrid cluster proteins of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough to survival under oxygen and nitrite stress. Environ. Microbiol. 14: 2711-2725. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2012.02859.x (more)
• Folarin, Y., An, D., Caffrey, S., Soh, J., Sensen, C.W., Voordouw, J., Jack, T. and G. Voordouw. 2012. Contribution of make-up water to the microbial community in an oil field from which oil is produced by produced water reinjection. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2012.07.017.
  
• Bordenave, S., Chatterjee, I. and G. Voordouw. 2012. Microbial community structure and microbial activities related to CO2 storage capacities of a salt cavern. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2012.08.001.
  
• Voordouw, G. 2012. Interaction of oil sands tailings particles with polymers and microbial cells: first step towards reclamation to soil. Biopolymers 'Accepted Article', doi: 10.1002/bip.22156. (more)
  
• Kryachko, Y., Nathoo, S., Lai, P., Voordouw, J., Prenner, E.J. and G. Voordouw. 2012. Prospects for using recombinant and original rhamnolipid-producers for microbially enhanced oil recovery and bioremediation. Accepted to International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation.
• Agrawal, A., Park, H.S., Nathoo, S., Gieg, L.M., Jack, T.R., Miner, K., Ertmoed, R., Benko, A. and G. Voordouw. 2012. Toluene depletion in produced oil contributes to souring control in a field subjected to nitrate injection. Environ. Sci. and Technol. 46: 1285-1292. (more)
  
• Kryachko, Y., Dong, X., Sensen, C. W. and G. Voordouw. 2011. Compositions of microbial communities associated with oil and water in a mesothermic oil field. 2011. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 101: 493-506.. (more)
• Wildschut, J., Caffrey, S. M., Voordouw, J., and Voordouw, G. 2011. Oxygen exposure increases resistance of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough to killing by hydrogen peroxide. 2012. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 101: 303-31. (more)
• Hubert, C. R. J., Oldenburg, T. B. P., Fustic, M., Gray, N, D., Larter, S. R., Penn, K., Rowan, A. K., Seshadri,R., Sherry, A., Swainsbury, R., Voordouw, G., Voordouw, J. K., and Head, I. M. 2012. Massive dominance of Epsilonproteobacteria in formation waters from a Canadian oil sands reservoir containing severely biodegraded oil. Environ. Microbiol. 14: 387-404. (more)
• Park, H-S., Chatterjee, I., Dong, X., Wang, S-H., Sensen, C.W., Caffrey, S.M., Jack, T.R., Boivin, J. and G. Voordouw. 2011. Effect of sodium bisulfite injection on the microbial community composition in a brackish-water-transporting pipeline. Appl. and Environ. Microbiol. 77: 6908-6917. (more)
• Callbeck, C.M., Dong, X., Chatterjee, I., Agrawal, A., Caffrey, S.M., Sensen, C. and G. Voordouw. 2011. Microbial community succession in a bioreactor modeling a souring low temperature oil reservoir subjected to nitrate injection. Appl. Microbiol. and Biotech. 91: 799-810. (more)
• Voordouw, G. 2011. Production-Related Petroleum Microbiology: Progress and Prospects. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 22: 401-405. (more)
• Ramos, E., Bordenave, S., Lin, S., Bhaskar, I. M., Dong, X., Sensen, C., Fournier, J., Voordouw, G. and L. Gieg. 2011 Carbon and sulfur cycling by microbial communities in a gypsum-treated oil sands tailings pond. Environ. Sci. Technol. 45: 439-446. (more)
• Bordenave, S., Kostenko, V., Dutkoski, M., Grigoryan, A., Martinuzzi, R. and G. Voordouw. (2010) Relation between the activity of anaerobic microbial populations in oil sands tailings ponds and the sedimentation of tailings. Chemosphere, doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.07.058. (more)
• Cornish-Shartau, S. L., Yurkiw, M., Lin, S., Grigoryan, A.A., Lambo, A.,  Park, H.S., Lomans, B., van der Biezen, E., Jetten, M.S.M. and G. Voordouw. (2010) Ammonium concentrations in produced waters from a mesothermic oil field subjected to nitrate injection decrease through formation of denitrifying biomass and anammox activity.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76:4977-4987. (more)
• Coombe, D., Jack, T., Voordouw, G., Zhang, F., Clay, B. and K. Miner. (2010) Simulation of bacterial souring in an Albertan heavy oil reservoir subjected to nitrate injection. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 49:19-26. (more)
• Lee, M. P., Caffrey, S.M., Voordouw, J.K. and G. Voordouw. (2010) Effects of biocides on gene expression in sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough.  Appl Microbiol. Biotechnol. 87(3):1109-1118. (more)
• Caffrey, S. M. and Voordouw, G. (2009)  Effect of sulfide on growth physiology and gene expression of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 97: 11-20 (more)
• Voordouw, G., Grigoryan, A.A., Lambo, A., Lin, S., Park, H.S., Jack,  T.R., Coombe, D., Clay, B., Zhang, F., Ertmoed, R., Miner, K. and J. J. Arensdorf. (2009) Sulfide remediation by pulsed injection of nitrate into a low temperature Canadian heavy oil reservoir. Environmental Science and Technology 43:9512-9518. (more)
• Walker, C. B., He, Z., Yang, Z.K., Ringbauer Jr, J.A., He, Q., Zhou, J., Voordouw, G., Wall, J.D., Arkin, A.P., Hazen, T.C., Stolyar, S. and D. A. Stahl. (2009) The electron transfer system of syntrophically grown Desulfovibrio vulgaris. J Bacteriol. 191:5793-5801. (more)
• Grigoryan, A.A., Lambo, A., Lin, S., Cornish, S.L., Jack, T.R. and G. Voordouw. (2009) Souring remediation by field-wide nitrate injection in an Alberta oil field. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 48:58-61. (more)
• Lin, S., Krause, F. and Voordouw, G. (2009) Transformation of iron sulfide to greigite by nitrite produced by oil field bacteria. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 83:369-376. (more)
• Hubert, C., Voordouw, G., and Mayer, B. (2009) Elucidating microbial processes in nitrate- and sulfate-reducing systems using sulfur and oxygen isotope ratios: The example of oil reservoir souring control. Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta. 73:3864-3879. (more)
• Johnston, S., Lin, S., Lee P., Caffrey, S. M., Wildschut, J., Voordouw J.K., da Silva, S. M., Pereira, I. A. C., and Voordouw, G. (2009) A genomic island of the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough promotes survival under stress conditions while decreasing the efficiency of anaerobic growth. Environ. Microbiol. 11:981-991. (more)