Fundamental Studies of In Situ Biosurfactant Production and the Attendant Impact on Metal Interactions with Soil Surfaces

环境微生物学家Raina Maier教授、表面化学家Jeanne Pemberton教授（两人都来自亚利桑那大学）和分析核磁共振专家Cynthia Larive教授（来自堪萨斯大学）由分析和表面化学项目和多学科活动办公室资助，研究微生物表面活性剂及其在土壤表面化学中的作用。这个问题将在一个广泛的跨学科研究项目中得到解决，包括批处理和流动柱和微生物培养，以及包括FTIR， NMR， XPS， AFM和PCR在内的分析。目标是整理生物表面活性剂在自然和模型土壤系统中被污染和未被污染的相互作用。微生物释放的生物表面活性剂在土壤环境中金属的转运中起着未知的作用。除了有助于解决金属（天然和污染物）的运输问题外，这项工作还可能有助于提供生物修复和/或消除土壤污染的新方法。研究生和本科生的独特交叉训练与研究相结合。

Professors Raina Maier, an environmental microbiologist, Jeanne Pemberton, a surface chemist (both of the University of Arizona) and Cynthia Larive, an analytical nuclear magnetic resonance expert (of the University of Kansas) are funded by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities for the investigation of microbial surfactants and their role in the surface chemistry of soils. This problem is to be addressed in an extensive interdisciplinary research program involving batch and flow-through column and micro-organism culturing, and analyses including FTIR, NMR, XPS, AFM and PCR. The goal is to sort out the interaction of biosurfactants in natural and model soil systems that are both contaminated and uncontaminated. Biosurfactants released by microbes play an unknown role in the transport of metals in the soil environment. In addition to aiding in questions of transport of metals (both natural and pollutants), the work may help provide new methods for bioremediation and/or elimination of contamination in soils. A unique cross-training of graduate and undergraduate students is in place in conjunction with the research.