Gijs Kuenen

Johannes Gijsbrecht Kuenen (born 9 December 1940,

. His research is influenced by, and a contribution to, the scientific tradition of the Delft School of Microbiology.

Kuenen studied at the

sulfur-oxidizing bacteria

from soda lakes. Gijs Kuenen retired in 2005 but remains active in science.

Awards

In 2004 Gijs Kuenen became a Knight in the

American Academy of Microbiology

. In 2006 he received the Jim Tiedje Award for his outstanding contribution to microbial ecology at the 11th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology in Vienna and in 2007 he was awarded the Procter & Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

For his contribution to the founding of the education Life Science and Technology (Delft University of Technology and Leiden University) in 2005 he received an honorary membership of Study Association LIFE.

Named after Kuenen

One of the five known anammox genera, with the single member

), for which Kuenen did consulting work and in which wastewater the bacteria was discovered.

References

• van Caulil G. (2006) Anammox, the cleaning creature that could not exist; Beijerinck, Kluyver, Kuenen - A goodbye to a remarkable microbiologist, Delft Outlook 2006.1^{[permanent dead link]}
• The anammox online resource: www.anammox.com
• la Rivière JWM. (2004) The Delft School of Microbiology in historical perspective. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 71:3-13
• Kuenen JG. (2008) Anammox bacteria: from discovery to application. Nature Reviews Microbiology 6:320-326
• Sorokin DY. & Kuenen JG. (2005) "Chemolithotrophic haloalkaliphiles from soda lakes". FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 52:287-295
• van de Graaf AA., Mulder A., de Bruijn P., Jetten MS., Robertson LA., Kuenen JG. (1995) Anaerobic oxidation of ammonium is a biologically mediated process. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 61:1246-1251