Dr. Anat Bernstein's research focuses on biodegradation of organic pollutants in the subsurface. The general questions that she's interested in are: (1) Do the target compounds degrade in the sub-surface? (2) How do they degrade (what is the governing pathway)? (3) At what rates do they degrade? (4) What is the effect of environmental factors (nutrient availability, redox, etc) on their degradation?

To address her research questions, she uses compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) techniques, in addition complementary methodologies (e.g. geochemical data and microbial tools). Dr. Bernstein's work effort is divided between: (1) Analytical work, in which she aims in introducing new CSIA techniques, (2) Mechanistic work, in which she uses CSIA for studying the basic mechanism of degradation processes under controlled laboratory conditions, and (3) Field work, in which she uses CSIA for studying the degradation of the target compounds in-situ.

Scientific Publications 2012-2015:

Refereed articles in scientific journals:

1) Sagi-Ben Moshe, S., Dahan, O., Weisbrod, N., Bernstein, A., Ronen, Z.(2012): Biodegradation of explosives mixture under different water-content conditions. J. Hazard. Mater. 203-204: 333-340.

2) Elsner, M., Jochmann, M., Hofstetter, T., Hunkeler, D., Bernstein, A., Schmidt, T., Schimmelmann, A. (2012): Current challenges in compound-specific stable isotope analysis of environmental organic contaminants. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 403:2471-2491

3) Bernstein, A.,Ronen, Z., Elena Levin, Halicz, L., Gelman, F. (2013): Kinetic bromine isotope effects: Example from the microbial debromination of brominated phenols. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 405(9): 2923-2929.

4) Bernstein, A., Ronen, Z., Gelman F. (2013). Insight on RDX degradation mechanism by Rhodococcus strains using 13C and 15N kinetic isotope effects. Environ. Sci. Technol., 47(1):479-484.

5) Cretnik, S., Thoreson, K., Bernstein, A., Ebert, K., Buchner, D., Laskov, C., Haderlein, S., Shouakar-Stash, O., Kliegmann, S., McNeill, K., Elsner, M. (2013). Reductive dechlorination of TCE by chemical model systems in comparison to dehalogenating bacteria: Insights from dual element isotope analysis (13C/12C, 37Cl/35Cl). Accepted to Environ. Sci. Technol. 47 (13), 6855–6863.

6) Bernstein, A., Z. Ronen, E. Levin, L. Halicz and F. Gelman. 2013. Br isotope effects: Example from the microbial debromination of brominated phenols. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 405:2923–2929.

7) Cretnik S., A. Bernstein, O. Shouakar-Stash, F. Löffler, and M. Elsner (2014). Chlorine isotope effects from isotope ratio mass spectrometry suggest intramolecular C-Cl bond competition in trichloroethene (TCE) reductive dehalogenation. Molecules, 19: 6450-6473.

Ph.D. 2004-2008 Dep. of Geological and Environmental Sciences, BGU

M.Sc. 2000-2003 Dep. of Geological and Environmental Sciences, BGU

B.Sc. 1997-2000 Dep. Soil and Water Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) -Cum Laude