EAGER: Isolation of ionizing radiation resisting microorganisms from the Gamma Forest in Long Island, NY

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Principal Investigator: Vishal ShahProposal No: CBET- 1028438 Over the period of the last few years, it has been realized that a potential exists to enrich lighter uranium and plutonium from the high-level radioactive waste. The PI?s long term goal is to develop a microorganism based technology that could carry out such enrichment. In the current proposal he aims to isolate microorganisms having resistance to high intensity ionizing radiation. The soil of Gamma Forest, located at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, will be used to screen the organisms having desired properties. Gamma Forest was a radiation facility established in 1961 to provide opportunity for systematic study of the effects of ionizing radiation on a terrestrial ecosystem and its components. The source of radiation used during the experiment was cesium-137 (9500 curies), a gamma emitter. In the study, the radiation source was placed on a tower located in the center of the field and the field was exposed 20 hours/day daily till 1979. Rates of exposure around the source varied from several thousand roentgens per day within a few meters of the source to about 2 roentgens per day at 130 meters. The working hypothesis for the proposed research is that, based on the intensity of radiation that the soil was exposed at various distances from Cs137, different types of ionizing radiation resisting microorganisms would have survived. The experimental approach involves exposing the soil obtained from various locations of gamma forest to gamma radiation. The microorganisms from soil would then be isolated using serial dilution and plating approaches. The resistance to ionizing radiation will be confirmed by again exposing the cultures to gamma radiation. All the isolated cultures having resistance to radiation will be identified using molecular methods.The proposed research will impact the disciplines of Environmental Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology: 1. New extremophilic microorganisms that are acidophilic/acid tolerant and radiation tolerant could be expected to be isolated in the proposed research. These cultures could have multiple applications in the field of biotechnology and environmental sciences. 2. The research would expand the library of gram negative, gram positive, yeast and fungi cultures in Biolog and 16S rDNA database. This would help scientists working in similar areas to identify the cultures which would be added in the database through this project with ease.The proposed project will impact science in a broader sense by: 1. The student who will be trained through this project will have an in depth research experience in classical microbiology and be better positioned to contribute to novel concepts in modern microbial techniques. 2. The project reinforces the educational experience for a socially diverse and economically disadvantaged student body, including those from underrepresented groups in the New York City area. At Dowling College, underrepresented minorities are close to 50% of the student population, and there are 70% females in the Department of Biology at Dowling College. 3. Also, instruments obtained through the funding of this project will be used in conducting new laboratory experiments in Introduction to Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry courses. This will aid in developing more scientifically trained youth for our society.