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、亚利桑那大学表面化学家Jeanne Pemberton教授和堪萨斯大学分析核磁共振专家Cynthia Larive教授得到了分析和表面化学计划以及多学科活动办公室的资助，以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计划中得到解决，包括间歇和流通柱和微生物培养，以及包括FTIR、核磁共振、XPS、AFM和PCR在内的分析。目标是找出生物表面活性剂在自然和模拟土壤系统中的相互作用，这些系统既有污染的，也有未受污染的。微生物释放的生物表面活性剂在土壤环境中金属的运输中扮演着未知的角色。除了有助于解决金属(包括天然和污染物)的迁移问题外，这项工作还有助于为生物修复和/或消除土壤中的污染提供新的方法。结合这项研究，对研究生和本科生进行了独特的交叉培训。

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.