CAREER: Metabolomics-Enabled Approaches to Advance Characterization of Organic Matter Trapping in Natural and Engineered Matrices

1653092Aristilde 该项目的主要目标是研究矿物表面捕获有机污染物的机制。这种捕获控制着湖泊和河流沉积物、地下土壤、垃圾填埋场和水过滤系统内的转化和运输速率。拟议研究的总体目标是开发一种新方法，结合实验和计算方法，以在分子尺度上深入了解复杂有机矿物混合物中有机污染物的捕获。研究结果将提出一个新的理论框架，用于解决湖泊和河流环境中的固体废物处理和长期有机物封存问题。该项目负责人将研究矿物表面驱动有机污染物捕集的有机物结构。 这些研究活动建立在 PI 在表面光谱、分子生物学和计算模拟方面的专业知识的基础上，并将利用质谱和代谢组学的最新进展来进行生物系统的分子指纹识别。 该项目负责人将利用分子生物学领域采用的代谢组学的新颖应用来填补环境工程过程中的重要知识空白：阐明控制有机矿物基质中有机污染物和天然有机物捕获的超分子化学。这种分子描述的局限性阻碍了对自然和工程土壤环境中有机污染物封存机制的全面理解。研究目标是对以下方面形成变革性的机制理解：（1）矿物表面组装生物分子的层次结构； (2) 有机矿物复合物中有机污染物捕集的演变； (3)在矿物界面封装污染物的生物分子组装体的超分子结构。外展活动旨在提高公众对分子级和纳米级过程的认识，这些过程驱动与公众和生态系统健康相关的有机物和有机污染物的命运。这项任务将通过实施新设计的项目来实现，该项目名为ScENE VI：从可见到不可见的自然环境科学探索。该计划将与当地科学博物馆科学中心、康奈尔大学纽约市合作推广办公室、康奈尔大学职业与环境健康中心以及纽约环境保护部建立的合作伙伴关系相结合。 ScENE VI 的活动旨在为年轻的博物馆参观者和纽约市 4-H 青年发展计划中代表性不足的青少年提供互动活动。

1653092Aristilde The key objective of this project is to investigate the mechanisms underlying the trapping of organic contaminants at mineral surfaces. This trapping controls transformation and transport rates within lake and river sediments, soil subsurfaces, landfills, and water filtration systems. The overarching goal of the proposed research is to develop a new approach that combines experimental and computational methods to obtain insights at the molecular scale into the trapping of organic contaminants within complex organo-mineral mixtures. The research findings will advance a new theoretical framework for addressing solid waste treatment and long-term organic matter sequestration in lake and river environments.The PI will investigate organic matter structures at mineral surfaces that drive the trapping of organic contaminants. The research activities are built on the PI's expertise in surface spectroscopy, molecular biology, and computational simulations and will exploit recent advances in mass spectrometry and metabolomics for the molecular fingerprinting of biological systems. The PI will exploit a novel application of metabolomics as adopted from the field of molecular biology towards filling an important knowledge gap in environmental engineering processes: elucidating the supramolecular chemistry that governs the trapping of organic contaminants and natural organic matter within organo-mineral matrices. Limitations in this molecular depiction have prevented a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the sequestration of organic contaminants within natural and engineered soil environments. The research goals are to develop a transformative mechanistic understanding of: (1) the hierarchy of assembled biomolecules on mineral surfaces; (2) the evolution of the trapping of organic contaminants within organo-mineral complexes; and, (3) the supramolecular architecture of biomolecular assemblies encapsulating contaminants at mineral interfaces. The outreach activities will be aimed at increasing the public literacy of the molecular-scale and nanoscale processes that drive the fate of organic matter and organic contaminants with relevance to public and ecosystem health. This task will be achieved through the implementation of a newly-designed program entitled ScENE VI: Scientific Explorations of the Natural Environment from the Visible to the Invisible. This program will be integrated with established partnerships with the local hands-on science museum Sciencenter, the Cornell cooperative extension office in New York City, the Cornell Occupational and Environmental Health, and the New York Department of Conservation. The activities through ScENE VI aim to provide interactive activities for young museum visitors and underrepresented teens of NYC 4-H youth development program.