INFO & NEWS


Call for Paper for SPECIAL ISSUE
Oil Remediation in Polar Environment (Hindawi Publishing Corporation)


Despite our relatively recent arrival in the Arctic and Antarctic, human activities (increasing exploitation, production, transportation, and storage of oil) have already produced significant anthropogenic impacts on these highly vulnerable environments where oil spill represents one of the greatest threats. Several techniques including physical, chemical, and biological methods are used to recover spilled oil from the cold environments. Bioremediation is a promising option for remediation since it is effective and economic in removing oil with less undue environment damages. However, it is a relatively slow process in cold region and the degree of success depends on a number of factors, including the properties and fate of oil spilled in cold environment, and, in particular, themicrobia1 activity. The microorganisms that inhabit Arctic and Antarctic environments are important not only because of the unique species they represent, but also because of their diverse and unusual physiological and biochemical properties. In terms of applied science, the unique cold-adapted enzymes and other molecules of polar microorganisms provide numerous opportunities for biotechnological development (e.g., bioremediation). For these reasons, polar bioremediation microbiology is a thriving branch of science with the potential to provide new insights into a wide range of basic and applied issues in environmental protection. In this context, it is timely to review and highlight the progress so far and discuss exciting future perspectives especially in view of the possible different recovery application methods and/or ecotoxicology techniques used in assessing oil impacts. In this special issue, some of the leaders in the field describe their work, ideas, and findings.

Manuscript Due: Friday, 24 February 2017
First Round of Reviews: Friday, 19 May 2017
Pubblication Date: Friday, 14 July 2017

Lead Guest Editor
Simone Cappello, IAMC-CNR of Messina, Messina (Italy)
Guest Editor
Giuseppe Mancini, University of Catania, Catania (Italy)
Alessandro Pistone, University of Messina, Messina (Italy)
Ilaria Corsi, University of Siena, Siena (Italy)