Arnaud Dechesne

Arnaud Dechesne is a Senior Researcher at the Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark (DTU). His research focuses on microbial ecology, environmental microbiology, and the role of horizontal gene transfer in antimicrobial resistance. He leads projects investigating microbial communities in water treatment systems and their implications for public health.

Dechesne supervises PhD students in areas such as microbial cultivation optimization, biocide effects on resistance transmission, and plasmid persistence mechanisms. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly addressing clean water and sanitation. He collaborates internationally, analyzing microbial dynamics across Europe’s urban water systems.

Key research interests include plasmid permissiveness, conjugative transfer mechanisms, and the ecological impact of antimicrobial resistance genes. He has pioneered methods to predict plasmid behavior in environmental microbiomes and developed tools for tracking resistance spread in wastewater.

• Supervised Students: A. Simonic (agricultural pollution mitigation), I. Nita (microbial cultivation), Z. He (biocide effects), J. Xu (plasmid persistence).
• Affiliations: Integrative Microbial Ecology, Center for Microbial Secondary Metabolites, DTU Microbes Initiative.

Recent studies highlight his work on electrochemical disinfection’s role in promoting plasmid transfer and single-cell analysis of antibiotic effects on conjugation. His projects emphasize translating microbial ecology insights into biotechnological solutions for environmental challenges.