CAREER: Molecular-Scale Interactions Between Microbes and Surfaces in the Environment

由于美国50%的人口依赖地下水作为饮用水，而一些大肠杆菌和霍乱弧菌菌株的10-12个菌落形成单位（cfu）就能引起感染，因此饮用水免受致病性污染的保护日益受到关注。提出的工作目标是在单分子水平上表征致病和非致病微生物的表面，并将这些生物聚合物的物理和化学性质与细菌粘附在“清洁”和有机涂层表面联系起来。我们的单分子方法来研究聚合物介导的细菌粘附使我们能够解开导致细菌粘附的复杂物理化学现象。我们的工作结果将有助于建模者试图预测病原体在环境中的传播（通过故意或意外释放），为开发饮用水和废水处理技术的从业者，为开发地下微生物的生物屏障遏制系统，以及涉及生物膜的所有行业或问题，从海洋生物污染到临床治疗患者。教育计划的目标是通过针对大学预科到研究生水平的连续体验来促进创造力和加强学习。学生必须学会欣赏令人兴奋的科学研究，然后学会阅读和解释科学文献，设计、执行和分析实验，并交流他们的发现。当学生面临挑战，通过应用工程和科学的基本原理以及新技术来解决现实生活中的环境工程问题时，这是最成功的。为此，我建议I)通过夏令营的形式为高中女生和少数民族学生开展拓展活动，这将通过接触实验室实验和接触更多高级学生和教师来激发对细菌粘附研究的兴趣，ii)在细菌粘附实验室为一年级本科生提供指导研究经验，iii)为法国化学工程学院的高年级本科生提供国际研究经验。Iv)为研究生提供指导本科生项目的机会；v)通过在课程中引入更多的问题解决、实验室和现实问题来改进本科和研究生课程。

0238627 Camesano Protection of drinking water from pathogenic contamination represents a growing concern since 50% of the population in the U.S. relies on groundwater for drinking water, and as few as 10-12 colony forming units (CFUs) of some strains of Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholerae can cause infection. The objectives of the proposed work are to characterize the surfaces of pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms at the single-molecule level, and to relate the physical and chemical properties of these biopolymers to bacterial adhesion to "clean" and organic-coated surfaces. Our single-molecule approaches to studying iopolymer-mediated bacterial adhesion allow us to uncouple the complex physicochemical phenomena causing bacterial adhesion. The results of our work will be instrumental to modelers trying to predict the spread of pathogens in the environment (through intentional or accidental releases), to practitioners developing treatment technologies for drinking and wastewater, for the development of bio-barrier containment systems for subsurface microorganisms, and for all industries or problems that involve biofilms, from marine biofouling to clinical treatment of patients.The objectives of the educational program are to promote creativity and enhance learning through a continuum of experiences aimed at the pre-college through the graduate level. Students must gain an appreciation for the excitement of scientific research, and then learn to read and interpret scientific literature, design, perform, and analyze experiments, and communicate their findings. This is most successful when students are challenged to solve real-life environmental engineering problems by applying fundamental principles of engineering and science as well as novel technologies. Toward this end, I propose i) outreach activities through the form of summer camps for high-school aged female and minority students, which will create excitement about bacterial adhesion research through exposure to lab experiments and contact with more senior-level students and faculty, ii) mentored research experiences for first-year undergrads in a bacterial adhesion lab, iii) international research experiences for upper-level undergraduates at a chemical engineering school in France, iv) opportunities for graduate students to mentor undergraduate projects, v) improved undergraduate and graduate courses by introducing more problem-solving, laboratories, and real-world problems into to the curriculum.