CAREER: Effects of nutrients on antibiotic resistance and antibiotic subsistence

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1351676LiMany people have become aware of the issue of pharmaceuticals in water and wastewater and natural waters. With the pharmaceutical market worldwide estimated to be $1 trillion dollars in 2015 and with an aging population (which uses more pharmaceuticals) and water and wastewater treatment plants never designed to deal with extremely low concentrations of highly biologically active compounds, the problem will likely get worse. One of the biggest, yet very subtle is the issue of antibiotic resistance in bacteria in natural waters.Antibiotic resistance constitutes a national and global public health threat. Evidence suggests that in addition to coming from hospitals, antibiotic resistant bacteria also emerge in the environment due to prolonged exposure to antibiotics originating in livestock and human wastes. On the other hand, many antibiotic resistant bacteria can subsist on antibiotics by using them as carbon and energy sources. Because nutrients influence microbial metabolisms and vary in quantity and composition across environmental compartments, they represent an important environmental factor that can affect antibiotic resistance and antibiotic subsistence in the environment. However, how nutrients affect the emergence of antibiotic resistance and the occurrence of antibiotic subsistence in microbial communities is poorly understood. The overall goal of this project is to build an integrated research and education/outreach program to minimize the negative impacts of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance to environmental and public health. The research goal of the project is to understand the interactions between antibiotics and microbial (bacterial) communities under various nutrient levels and types (i.e., labile vs. recalcitrant). The research approach will investigate the responses of bacteria to both nutrient starvation and antibiotic presence. The results of these studies will allow implementation in municipal and agricultural wastewater treatment to control the emergence and proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The proposed project will use a novel analytical tool, quantitative (meta)proteomics, which can offer new and valuable perspectives to environmental engineering studies. The use of quantitative (meta)proteomics in the mechanistic studies on antibiotic resistance and antibiotic subsistence will lay the groundwork for exploring further application of this novel technology in other environmental engineering fields such as exposure and biodegradation studies.One major source of antibiotics in the environment is livestock manure. The education goal of the project is to promote behavioral changes in livestock producers on antibiotic administration and manure management and to educate a new generation of environmental engineers specializing in solving agriculture-related environmental challenges. This will be accomplished by:1.) Raising the awareness of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance as environmental contaminants among livestock producers through outreach and education activities2.) Develop an integrated course module to stimulate interest in environmental science among high school students in rural areas, and,3.) Encourage rural students to pursue a graduate degree in environmental engineering