Geertje van Keulen is an associate professor in Microbial Biochemistry in the Institute of Life Sciences at Swansea University, UK.

She leads interdisciplinary research and innovation teams with microbiology at its core, expanding understanding into and sustainably exploiting the chemical and material properties of microbes in living, manufactured and natural (soil) environments. Her research links antibiotics, water repellency and materials, switching focus between microbial to manufactured to soils with insights generated in one discipline quickly applied to another, and back to generate step changes in knowledge and sustainable innovation.

Geertje’s research and innovation efforts aim to capture the potential of the antibiotic-producing soil bacterium Streptomyces as a living chemical, materials and soil engineer. Her research investigates the microbial adaptation and bioengineering of water repellency in as well as the adhesion and aggregation of natural and manufactured materials. Her research also includes the natural production of antibiotics (antibiosis) for antimicrobial drug discovery as well as resistance to antibiotics and metals, especially in metal-polluted soils.

Geertje’s team works in interdisciplinary collaborative projects with researchers active in fields as diverse as biomaterials sciences, biochemical engineering, pollution, water sanitation and nanotechnology medicines from medieval Wales.