Joep Appels

Biography

Joep Appels has a degree in analytical chemistry (HBO-A) and a degree in marketing (NIMA-B). He has 30+ years of experience in the field of (on-line) water and environmental instruments and worked for several major US instrument companies including Thermo Instruments (one of the largest instrument manufacturers in the world) and New Brunswick Scientific (a leading company in the development if biotech instruments). He worked on the development and implementation of AOX and (on-line) TOC analyzers with Euroglas, based in Delft (which was acquired by Thermo).In 2003 he started his own company microLAN BV which is nowadays the world market leader for online toxicity monitoring instruments (using Vibrio fischeri or luminescent bacteria). microLAN focuses on the development and sales of online optical sensors for bio-indicator monitoring being the detection of algae, bacteria and (toxic)chemicals in water. microLAN holds the patent EP2165193 (“Device for monitoring water for microbial germs”). It’s the first company in the world with a commercially successful online bacteria monitoring sensor capable of detecting enzymatic activity of E.coli, coliform and total bacteria in water. microLAN is in the EU Aquavalens project (Protecting the health of Europeans by improving methods for the detection of pathogens in drinking water and water used in food preparation) with 42 participants and 8.9 million € budget. The BACTcontrol 2.0 is currently released and a new application for detection of Enterococci will be added in 2016.

Research Interest

 Environmental Sciences