CAREER: Bacteriophages in activated sludge bioreactors- effect on process performance and process sustainability and a tool for educational outreach to underrepresented students.

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AbstractProposal Title: CAREER: Bacteriophages in activated sludge bioreactors- effect on process performance and process sustainability and a tool for educational outreach to underrepresented studentsPrincipal Investigator: Ramesh GoelInstitution: University of UtahProposal No: CBET- 1055786This CAREER proposal aims to integrate PI?s research in bacteriophages with education and outreach. The motivations behind this CAREER proposal are three-fold: engineering, scientific and educational. The principal engineering goal of this CAREER proposal is to demonstrate the application of bacteriophage (virus that infect bacteria) mediated biocontrol in activated sludge systems using filamentous bulking and membrane biofouling in submerged bioreactors as the two model applications. The broad scientific goals are to: (1) to better understand phage mediated lysogeny of key activated sludge under the influence of various environmental and operational parameters: and (2) to study the phage diversity of the isolated phages from full scale activated sludge plant using 454 pyrosequencing. The educational goal is to enhance the participation of minority undergraduate and k12 students in environmental engineering using novel computer animation and internet based techniques, provide minority U.S. undergraduate students the international research experience and integrate the proposed research into education at various levels and at multiple institutes (University of Utah and the University of Texas Pan American, a Hispanic population serving institute at the U.S.-Mexico border). The specific research tasks are to: (1) isolate bacteria from the biofilm formed on the membrane of a laboratory scale membrane bioreactor and characterize these using molecular tools, (2) isolate lytic phages from full scale wastewater treatment plants with selected model filamentous bacteria and the bacteria isolated from the lab scale membrane bioreactor, (3) demonstrate phage mediated biocontrol of filamentous bulking caused by selected model bacteria and biofilm forming bacteria, evaluate the cross infectivity in bioreactor and environmental impact on receiving waters of isolated phages, (4) evaluate whether lysogeny is important in key activated sludge bacteria under the variations of pH, temperature, organic loading and toxic loadings, and in the presence of heavy metals using cultured model bacteria and, (5) obtain the genomes of isolated phages from tasks 1 and 2 using 454-pyrosequencing and study the genomes using established bioinformatic tools.The PI?s educational and outreach aims are to: (1) involve undergraduate and high school students in laboratory research to stimulate their interest in environmental engineering, (2) integrate bacterial ecology and virology concepts into teaching to develop an effective learning module for undergraduates, (3) develop computer animation and web based tools for improving the public understanding of science, wastewater treatment and phage-related issues and, (4) integrate research into graduate education and disseminate the knowledge and research findings.The proposed research will improve our understanding about the role of bacteriophages in activated sludge systems, the world?s most used engineered bioreactors. The research will develop phage mediated control strategies for filamentous bulking and membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs), the two most common operational problems in activated sludge bioreactors. Hence, the research promises to provide long term energy sustainability (i.e reduced air sparging in MBRs) and cost effectiveness to the operation of activated sludge systems including membrane bioreactors. Operational and environmental factors that triggered phage mediated bacterial lysis research, proposed in this CAREER proposal, is fundamental in nature and potentially sheds light on unknown reasons for the process upsets in activated sludge bioreactors. The proposed research, for the first time, will use fundamental concepts of virology to provide operational sustainability to activated sludge systems. This is the first systematic study to explore phage-bacteria interactions in activated sludge processes.The research outcomes will directly affect many other related areas such as biofilm in drinking water distribution systems, understanding phage mediated horizontal gene transfer, elimination of hydrogenotrophic bacteria in biohydrogen producing reactors and nitrite oxidizers in anaerobic ammonia oxidation. The PI will focus on training of Native American and Hispanic students to encourage them to pursue careers in environmental engineering. Computer based animation and web based tools will help reach a broader audience. The PI?s unique effort to develop and teach an undergraduate course at the University of Texas Pan American will stimulate interest in Hispanic students to go for higher studies in environmental engineering. Graduate students will be trained to be leaders in their field as well as engineering ambassadors. Lab practices in k12 curriculum will expose k12 students to the exciting field of wastewater engineering and microbiology. Presentations at leading conferences and publications in peer reviewed journals of highest repute will demonstrate the success of the research.