Vladimir P. Beškoski

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Belgrade

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pose a global significant threat to water quality due to its stability and wide use. Although there are available some remediation PFOA techniques, there is still more to be learned about the exposure, monitoring and removing of PFAS. Their remediation techniques need to be strong enough to decompose C-F bond, but c...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have emerged as a significant class of pollutants due to their broad environmental and health implications. PFAS have been used in a range of industrial and consumer applications since the 1940s, leading to their widespread presence in the environment, including among others, water sources, soil, and even...

The aim of this paper is to provide insight into research and activities of in situ remediation to remove petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants from a contaminated aquifer’s sediment, located near two radial collector wells of a water supply system. It was decided that the most appropriate method for remediation of this aquifer’s sediment is in situ bio...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as "forever chemicals", are highly persistent environmental pollutants due to their strong carbon-fluorine bonds. Widely used across industries and consumer products, PFAS have accumulated in the environment, raising concerns about their bioaccumulation, toxicity, and mobility. Adsorption, particula...

The increased commercial use and spread of nanoceria raises concerns about the risks associated with its effects on living organisms. Although Pseudomonas aeruginosa may be ubiquitous in nature, it is largely found in locations closely linked with human activity. P. aeruginosa san ai was used as a model organism for a deeper understanding of the in...

Background Leukocytes are key cellular effectors of inflammation in asthma and understanding their function in this disease is of crucial importance. Blood leukocytes reflect the actions of their counterparts in the lungs and they can be obtained through minimal invasive procedures as part of the peripheral blood. Background Leukocytes are key cel...

Polyurethanes (PUs) are an exceedingly heterogeneous group of plastic polymers, widely used in a variety of industries from construction to medical implants. In the past decades, we have witnessed the accumulation of PU waste and its detrimental environmental impacts. PUs have been identified as one of the most toxic polymers leaching hazardous com...

Rationale Discovering biomarkers of major depressive disorder (MDD) can give a deeper understanding of this mood disorder and improve the ability to screen for, diagnose, and treat MDD. Objectives In this study, metabolomics was used in unraveling metabolite fluctuations of MDD and drug outcome by creating specific metabolomic fingerprints. We rep...

Decades of investigating depression failed to provide a complete mechanism about the underlying pathophisiology, and a measurable biomarker, an indicator of disease, is still missing. Exploring metabolomic alterations in the hippocampus, one of the brain areas most affected in depression, and serum might give insight into the more dynamic side of b...

This study aimed to determine the qualitative variability of essential oils of mountain germander – Teucrium montanum L. (Lamiaceae) at the population level, depending on the type of geological substrate. Ten samples of essential oils originated from aerial plant parts of populations from calcareous and ten from serpentinite were tested by GCxGC-MS...

The problem of wastewater has long been ubiquitous and has great consequences for the environment and its inhabitants. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have enormous potential for the treatment of wastewaters polluted with azo dyes. The amount of energy that can be produced from a single-chamber MFC is sufficient to perform decolorization and degradatio...

The characterization and cleanup of groundwater contamination in hazardous-waste sites are of significant engineering and scientific importance. This study analyzes biodegradation fingerprints in groundwater, 25 years after the accidental leakage of kerosene (jet fuel) at the site in central Serbia. The long-term existence of hydrocarbon contaminat...

The Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra River Basin (IGBRB) is a trans-boundary river basin flowing through four major countries in South Asia viz. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Contamination of surface water by untreated or inadequately treated wastewater has been a huge problem for pathogenic microorganisms in economies in transition. Recent studie...

We describe herein the synthesis and laccase mediated oxidation of six novel 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP)-based hexahydroquinolines (DHP1-DHP3) and decahydroacridines (DHP4-DHP6). We employed different laccase enzymes with varying redox potential to convert DHP1-DHP3 and DHP4-DHP6 to the corresponding pyridine-containing tetrahydroquinoline and octahy...

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nCeO2) have widespread applications, but they can be hazardous to the environment. Some reports indicate the toxic effect of nCeO2 on tested animals, but literature data are mainly contradictory. Coating of nCeO2 can improve their suspension stability and change their interaction with the environment, which can consequen...

BACKGROUND: Pectin is a complex polysaccharide, present in fresh and processed food as an additive, which also serves as an important source of fiber. In this work, the aim was to investigate in-vitro application of apple pectin as a possible antimicrobial, antioxidant and prebiotic agent for growth of bacteria selected from human milk and infant f...

Literature data about semi‐volatile organic compounds in plants and the effect of cerium oxide nanoparticles on them are scarce. Surface modification of nanoparticles may change nanoparticle‐environment interaction, and therefore affects compounds in plants. In this research, uncoated and glucose‐, levan‐ and pullulan‐coated cerium oxide nanopartic...

The aim of this study is to determine the qualitative variability and relative presence of sesquiterpene hydrocarbons in essential oils samples of Teucrium montanum L. collected from two different substrate types. Four samples of essential oils from serpentinite and four from calcareous were obtained by the method of hydrodistillation from abovegro...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the polyphenol content, antioxidative potential and antiproliferative activity of Swiss chard from Montenegro, grown under different irrigation and fertilization regimes. Design/methodology/approach Swiss chard was grown in the open field (Lješkopolje, Montenegro) where it was subjected to differen...

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are lipophilic, persistent and bioaccumulative toxic compounds. In general, they are considered resistant to biological, photolytic, and chemical degradation and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) belong to these chemicals. PCBs were never produced in Serbia, but they were imported and mainly used in electrical eq...

In this study, for the first time, the comprehensive analysis of antiproliferative and antioxidant activities of ramson, followed by the analysis of its associated microbiota and health-promoting effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), was performed. Ramson (Allium ursinum) is recognized as a medicinal plant with a long history of use in traditional...

One of the main global focuses of mankind today is the required switch to new energy sources. Generating energy from waste is one of the potential solutions that can be achieved using microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Microorganisms, thanks to their ability to degrade organic substrates in contaminated environments, could contribute to solving our pollu...

Aquifer contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons leads to measurable changes of groundwater hydrochemistry, primarily due to the microbiological activity. This study analyzes this phenomenon at an historical kerosene-contaminated site in Vitanovac (central Serbia). Due to the long-term hydrocarbon contamination and exposure to aerobic and anaerobic...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai, an alkaliphilic, metallotolerant bacterium, degraded individual selected petroleum compounds, i.e., n-alkanes (n-hexadecane, n-nonadecane) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (fluorene, phenanthrene, pyrene) with efficiency of 80%, 98%, 96%, 50% and 41%, respectively, at initial concentrations of 20 mg L⁻¹ and in sev...

Environmental pollution is a global problem, while bioremediation technology removes pollutants from the environment using microorganisms. This study was aimed at investigating how a bioremediation process affected soil humification. In soil polluted with petroleum and its derivatives that was submitted to bioremediation, besides the total petroleu...

An efficient encapsulation of the fullerene into two hydrophobized and one native polysaccharide provided water soluble supramolecular hybrids. After covalent modification of polysaccharides by cholesterol, noncovalent hybrids were prepared by a three-step procedure, including mixing of individual aqueous solutions of hydrophobized, as well as nati...

Reports about the influence of cerium-oxide nanoparticles (nCeO 2) on plants are contradictory due to their positive and negative effects on plants. Surface modification may affect the interaction of nCeO 2 with the environment, and hence its availability to plants. In this study, the uncoated and glucose-, levan-, and pullulan-coated nCeO 2 were s...

Microbial polysaccharides, due to their unique physiochemical properties, have found application in the food industry, cosmetics, pharmacy and medicine. In the environment, microbes can use polysaccharides to alleviate the adverse effects of heavy metals in their close proximity. This adaptive property shows interesting potential for bioremediation...

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai strain was investigated for its capability to degrade the 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (2,6-DTBP) plastic additive, a hazardous and toxic substance for aquatic life. This investigation was performed under different parameter values: 2,6-DTBP concentration, inoculum size, pH, and temperature. The GC-MS study showed that...

The strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai, isolated from an extreme environment (industrial mineral cutting oil, pH 10), is able to survive and persist in the presence of a variety of pollutants such as heavy metals and organic chemicals. The genome of P. aeruginosa san ai is 6.98 Mbp long with a GC content of 66.08% and 6485 protein encoding genes....

The influence of four low-frequency magnetic field (MF) ranges 10–300 Hz, 10–100 Hz, 10–50 Hz and 50–100 Hz in scanning regime (all frequencies from selected range were scanned during 100 s repetitively during 24 h) on baker’s yeast cells Saccharomyces cerevisiae was examined by continuous measurements of cumulative O2 consumption and cumulative CO...

Grape pomace (GP) from Vitis labrusca, the main byproduct from "American table wine" production, is recalcitrant to degradation, and its accumulation is a serious problem with negative environmental impacts. In this work, transformation of grape pomace using a steam pretreatment followed by incubation of GP during a 90-day period with six different...

Bacillus sp.-based microbial formulations have found wide application in many fields: from pharmacy and medicine to environmental protection and agriculture due to the ability of this species to produce various metabolites and to form endospores. Recently, these products have gained popularity as biopesticidal and phytostimulatory agents, which are...

Microorganisms capable of using naphthalene as the sole carbon source were isolated from the contaminated sediment of Cooum River. Twenty one isolates were recovered and nine were selected for enrichment due to differences in their morphological characteristics. Out of nine isolates, only four (NS3-SRMND14B, NS14-SRMND14A, NS15-SRMND14D and NS19-SR...

The production of levan by Bacillus licheniformis NS032 in a medium based on sugar beet molasses was studied. High polysaccharide yields were produced by using diluted molasses (100-140 g/L of total sugars) with the addition of commercial sucrose up to 200 g/L of total sugars, as well as K2HPO4. A levan yield of 53.2 g/L was obtained on a medium op...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from petroleum and fossil fuels are one of the most dominant pollutants in the environment. Since aromatic fraction from petroleum diesel fuel is mainly composed of PAHs, it is important to discover new microorganisms that can biodegrade these compounds. This article describes the biodegradation of the aromat...

We investigated the capability of microorganisms isolated from environments polluted with perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) to conduct biotransformation of these emerging pollutants. Two different microbial consortia (chemoorganoheterotrophic bacteria and total yeast and molds) were isolated from two river sediments in Saitama and Osaka, Japan, known fo...

The aim of this research was to investigate the overall dynamics and the efficiency of biodegradation of saturated and aromatic compounds – constituents of the oil pollutant, during ex situ bioremediation of the polluted soil. The effect of natural biodegradation was investigated in a parallel set of samples of the same soil which was not subjecte...

Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPM) are an important group of microbial inoculants, which exist in rhizosphere and have the ability to inhabit the root of the plants and improve their development. Their positive influence is achieved through solubilization of phosphorus, nitrogen fixation, production of plant nutrients and phytohormones, p...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai is a promising candidate for bioremediation of cadmium pollution, as it resists a high concentration of up to 7.2 mM of cadmium. Leaving biomass of P. aeruginosa san ai exposed to cadmium has a large biosorption potential, implying its capacity to extract heavy metal from contaminated medium. In the present study, we i...

The role of natural attenuation processes in groundwater contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons is of intense scientific and practical interest. This study provides insight into the biodegradation effects in groundwater at a site contaminated by kerosene (jet fuel) in 1993 (Vitanovac, Serbia). Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), hydrochemical indi...

We developed capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with indirect UV detection for the determination of fluoride (F−) in seawater using transient isotachophoresis (tITP) as an on-line concentration procedure. A method of correcting sample salinity effects was also proposed so that F− concentrations were obtained using a calibration graph. The propose...

Cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles (CONPs) are interesting biomaterials with various applications in biomedicine, cosmetics and the pharmaceutical industry, but with limited practical application because of their low stability in aqueous media. The aim of this study was to obtain CONPs with increased stability by coating the particles. Microbial exo...

Microorganisms capable of utilizing naphthalene as the sole carbon source were isolated from the contaminated sediment of Cooum River. Twenty one isolates were recovered and nine were selected for enrichment due to differences in their morphological characteristics. Out of nine isolates, only four (NS3-SRMND14B, NS14-SRMND14A, NS15-SRMND14D, NS19-S...

Bioremediation is the process of detoxification or elimination of pollutants using microorganisms with different metabolic capabilities. Biodegradation by natural populations of microorganisms is one of the primary mechanisms by which oil and other pollutants of hydrocarbon origin can be removed from the environment and it is also much cheaper than...

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether changes in the quantity and structure of humic acids (HA) occur during bioremediation of waste mazute (heavy residual fuel oil). The effects of humification on the structure of HA were evaluated by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), potentiometric titrations, the ratio of absorbances at...

Various microorganisms isolated from polluted environments, such as Pseudomonas sp. and Micrococcus sp. can synthesize exopolysaccharides (EPSs) which are natural, non-toxic and biodegradable polymers. EPSs play a key role in protection of microbial cells under various external influences. For humans, these substances have potential use in many ind...

The immobilization of Candida rugosa lipase by adsorption was performed onto commercial titania powder (Degussa P25). The change of titania particles surface was diagnosed by means of FTIR and FESEM analysis, as well as by shift of zeta potential value towards that of lipase. A detailed study of the effect of immobilization on enzyme kinetic, tempe...

Ni nanoparticles supported on a nitrogen doped carbon (NDC) prepared via salt melt synthesis with a hierarchical porosity were successfully applied as catalyst for the degradation of Kraft lignin. It is shown that Ni–NDC is more efficient when compared to Ni nanoparticles deposited on an N-free carbon support, prepared with similar porosity feature...

Natural attenuation includes a number of processes that cause the reduction of groundwater contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons. Among these processes biodegradation often plays a major role, since microorganisms use petroleum hydrocarbons as the source of energy and carbon. Application of natural attenuation as a remediation approach requires d...

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) including perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) were analyzed in sediment samples taken from Ajifu Waterway in Osaka city, from Osaka Bay, and from Kagoshima Bay, as well as in fifteen seawater samples collected from Osaka Bay and coastal waters of Western Japan. In all sediment sampl...

The objective of this study was to stimulate microbial biodegradation of petroleum pollution in groundwater and to analyze changes in the abundance and distribution of organic compounds detectable in petroleum. Bioremediation was conducted in a closed bipolar system, by bioaugmentation with consortia of hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms (HD) and...

Novel macromolecular graft copolymers were synthesized by reaction of the hydroxyl groups of the microbial polysaccharide levan, produced using Bacillus licheniformis, with polystyrene (Lev-g-PS). Synthesis was performed by the free radical reaction using potassium persulfate (PPS) as initiator. The prepared copolymer was characterized by FTIR, SEM...

Environmental pollution with toxic metals, petroleum-type contaminants and new classes of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is always a problem. Microorganisms as ”biological agents” are always actual in remediation, especially in the historical pollution, protection and preservation...

The advance of technology and industry in the last hundred years, population growth and the development of big cities have led to the production of waste materials in quantities which exceed self-purification capacity of nature. The accumulation of waste materials of various origin causes increased pollution of the environment, including soil. Nond...

The field of microbial polysaccharides is an immensely developing field over the last two decades as a result of its wide-ranging applications in different areas of science and technology. Microbial exopolysaccharides (MPSs) such as xanthan, dextran, gellan, pullulan and levan have been commercially used in their natural or modified state for many...

This study provides insight into the enhanced in situ bioremediation applied for remediation of groundwater contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons. Activities prior to the application of this remediation approach included removal of the source of groundwater contamination—an underground storage tank and contaminated sediments—from the unsaturated z...

Procedures for solubilization of phosphorus from insoluble phosphates by acidophilic autotrophs and heterotrophs are considered to be research subjects of great importance in sustainable soil management, and could become, in the future, an alternative to current expensive methods of industrial fertilizer production. Furthermore, this biological pro...

In this study, levan production by Bacillus licheniformis NS032 isolated from a petroleum sludge sample was investigated. High levan yield was obtained in a wide range of sucrose concentrations (up to 400 g/L) and, contrary to most levan-producing strains, using ammonium chloride as the sole N source. Interaction between sucrose, ammonium chloride,...

This paper describes experiments with standard humic acids (HA-S) and humic acids (HA) isolated from soil that was contaminated with mazut and treated with a consortium of microorganisms for the process of bioremediation (HA-E). Both acids inhibited the toxicity of ferric chloride and increased the growth of a zymogenous microbial consortia compare...

This letter and comments within refer to the article (hereinafter: “Paper”) published in the Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society, 2014, Volume 79, Issue 6, Pages: 729-741: Srđan Stanković, Ivana Morić, Aleksandar Pavić, Branka Vasiljević, D. Barrie Johnson and Vladica Cvetković, Investigation of the microbial diversity of an extremely acidic, m...

The object of this study was to investigate the possibility of phosphorus leaching from mixture of phosphate ore and pyrite minerals, in laboratory conditions using sulfuric acid generated by bacterial culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (At. ferrooxidans), because the possible application of these mixtures as a natural phosphate fertilize...

Perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) were analyzed in sediment samples from the wastewater canal draining the industrial complex of Pančevo, Serbia (oil refinery, petrochemical plant, and fertilizer factory). The canal is directly connected to Europe's second largest river, the Danube, which drains its water int...

It is well known that during biodegradation of oil under natural geological conditions, or oil pollutants in the environment, degradation of hydrocarbons occurs according to a well-defined sequence. For example, the major changes during the degradation process of n-alkanes occur in the second, slight and third, moderate level (on the biodegradation...

Phenanthrene and methyl-phenanthrenes are major aromatic pollutants originating in particular from fuel oil. Phenanthrene is usually degraded faster than methyl-phenanthrenes under geological and environmental conditions. Here, we report a preferential and accelerated biodegradation of methyl-phenanthrenes versus phenanthrene in soil contaminated b...

This study visually documents the mechanical contact and interaction between the bacterial cells of two biogeocenotically different strains of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (At. ferrooxidans) and oil shale containing pyrite. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging was used to visualise initial interaction between the microorganisms and the surface m...

The contamination of soil and water with petroleum and its products occurs due to accidental spills during exploitation, transport, processing, storing and use. In order to control the environmental risks caused by petroleum products a variety of techniques based on physical, chemical and biological methods have been used. Biological methods are co...

This article presents a study of the efficiency and degradation pattern of samples of petroleum sludge and polluted sandy soil from an oil refinery. A bacterial consortium, consisting of strains from the genera Pseudomonas, Achromobacter, Bacillus and Micromonospora, was isolated from a petroleum sludge sample and characterized. The addition of nit...

Mazut (heavy residual fuel oil)-polluted soil was exposed to bioremediation in an ex situ field-scale (600 m(3)) study. Re-inoculation was performed periodically with biomasses of microbial consortia isolated from the mazut-contaminated soil. Biostimulation was conducted by adding nutritional elements (N, P and K). The biopile (depth 0.4m) was comp...