Uranium and Plant Metabolism

Introduction.- Chemistry of Uranium.- Methods of Uranium Detection.- Uranium Uptake by Plants.- Storage and Metabolism.- Uranium Immobilization and Excretion.

Gerhard Geipel graduated in Chemistry at the Mining Academy of Freiberg, and holds a PhD from the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic. Afterwards, he was employed by Central Institute for Nuclear Research at Rossendorf. After German unification, he moved to the Research Center Rossendorf, Institute of Radiochemistry, now Helmholtz-Center Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Resource Ecology. In 2005 he was awarded with the "Kurt Schwabe Award" of the Saxonian Academy of Sciences for the first detection of dissolved Calcium-Uranyl-Carbonate species, which have fundamental importance in the environmental behavior of uranium migration. Since 2005 he was the head of the department Biogeochemistry. His research interests are especially the determination of the speciation of uranium and trans-uranium elements by laser-induced spectroscopic methods. Nanosecond laser pulses were applied to determine mainly inorganic species. For species with organic ligands femtosecond laser pulses were applied. During the last ten years his research interest has focused more on the interaction of uranium and lower actinides with living organisms and microorganisms, especially plants and plant cells. Up to now he is author/coauthor of about 100 scientific publications and have contributed to 6 books.