Dr. Mustafa Abdul-Wahab Najem, a lecturer in the Faculty of Science / Department of Ecology, and in cooperation with Dr. Hamid T. Al-Saad, and the teacher Shaymaa  A. Abood in the Faculty of Marine Sciences, published a scientific paper in the journal Remediation, which is classified within the containers of Scopus and Clarivate  under the title

Factors affecting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation by Aspergillus flavus

The research aims to improve the effectiveness of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, which isolated from the oil fields area in Al-Zubair / Basrah Governorate, to biodegrade  polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the possibility of using it in the bioremediation  of these polluting compounds. The fungus was identified phenotypically and genetically, and its ability to degrade these compounds in a laboratory under different conditions of temperature, pH and nutrients were studied. The research showed that the fungus gave the best result of biodegradation under the temperature of 30 ° C and pH 5.5. The results of the current study indicate the high efficacy of this fungus in the biodegradation of these compounds and the possibility of using it as an effective tool in the bioremediation of environmental pollutants.