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

1653092 Aristilde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。这种捕获控制湖泊和河流沉积物、土壤次表层、垃圾填埋场和水过滤系统内的转化和运输速率。拟议的研究的总体目标是开发一种新的方法，结合实验和计算方法，以获得在分子尺度上捕获复杂的有机矿物混合物中的有机污染物的见解。该研究成果将为解决固体废物处理和湖泊和河流环境中长期有机物封存问题提出一个新的理论框架。PI将研究矿物表面的有机物结构，这些结构驱动有机污染物的捕获。 研究活动建立在PI在表面光谱学，分子生物学和计算模拟方面的专业知识基础上，并将利用质谱和代谢组学的最新进展进行生物系统的分子指纹分析。 PI将利用代谢组学的新应用，从分子生物学领域填补环境工程过程中的一个重要知识空白：阐明超分子化学，控制有机污染物和天然有机物在有机无机基质中的捕获。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螯合机制的全面理解。研究目标是发展一种变革性的机械理解：（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获的演变;以及（3）矿物界面生物分子组装包封污染物的超分子结构。外联活动的目的是提高公众对影响有机物质和有机污染物命运的分子级和纳米级过程的认识，这些过程与公众和生态系统健康有关。这一任务将通过实施一项新设计的方案来完成，该方案题为ScENE VI：对自然环境进行从可见到不可见的科学探索。该计划将与当地动手科学博物馆Sciencenter，康奈尔合作推广办公室在纽约市，康奈尔职业和环境健康，和纽约保护部建立合作伙伴关系。通过ScENE VI的活动旨在为年轻的博物馆游客和纽约市4-H青年发展计划的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.