Miriam Peces Gomez

Miriam Peces Gomez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Bioscience at Aalborg University, Faculty of Engineering and Science. Her research is centered in environmental microbiology, particularly within the Per Halkjær Nielsen LAB, where she investigates microbial processes in wastewater treatment and resource recovery systems.

Her research interests include:

• Environmental Microbiology and microbial ecophysiology
• Wastewater treatment and activated sludge systems
• Anaerobic digestion and organic waste valorization
• Microbial community dynamics and metagenomics
• Recovery of nutrients like phosphate from wastewater
• Microbial dark matter and filamentous bacteria (e.g., Leptothrix)

Recent publications show a strong trend in understanding microbial interactions under stress conditions (e.g., ammonia inhibition), optimizing co-digestion processes, and exploring the biogeography of microbial communities in global wastewater plants. Her work integrates experimental microbiology with systems-level analysis, contributing to sustainable environmental biotechnologies.

Scientific contributions and projects include:

• Explainable AI for Complex Microbial Community Interactions and Predictions (Villum Foundation, 2021–2024)
• Recovery of phosphate from wastewater systems – Microbiological and chemical aspects (Aalborg University, 2018–2021)
• Illumination of microbial dark matter (Villum Foundation, 2017–2024)

She has active collaborations with researchers across Europe and participates in PhD supervision. Her research is highly cited and published in top journals such as Water Research, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and Waste Management. She is involved in interdisciplinary projects combining microbiology, chemical engineering, and data science to solve environmental challenges.

She is also affiliated with research networks exploring global microbial patterns in engineered ecosystems and contributes to advancing sustainable wastewater biotechnologies.