Biosafety cabinet for marine fungal biodiversity and proteomics research

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Until we understand the spatiotemporal distribution of marine fungi and identify the most ecologically and biogeochemically relevant species, we cannot integrate fungi into our understanding of the microbial ecology of the oceans. I am elucidating the vital role that marine fungi play in northern coastal ecosystems, how the species interact with one another, and other coastal processes, and how their ecological role makes them particularly suited for bioremediation of oil spills. Oil pollution is a global problem that will pose increasing health risks to humans and food webs in marine ecosystems into the foreseeable future. Offshore hydrocarbon activity in coldwater marine areas is on the rise. Northern sea beds may hold one quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil deposits. Global demand for oil is increasing despite policy efforts to adopt more climate-friendly energy sources. Recent progress in technology, ship design, drilling gear and logistics have made northern waters more accessible for offshore hydrocarbon exploration. Oil spills threaten understudied northern coastal ecosystems. Hydrocarbon components of spilled fuels include carcinogens and neurotoxic organic pollutants. Offshore oil activity may have increasingly direct or indirect social and economic impacts for northern regions such as Atlantic Canada in the event of marine oil spills. I am applying for funding to purchase an essential piece of equipment for my new NSERC Discovery grant-funded research program (2017-2022), a Level A2 Biosafety Cabinet. My research program, unique worldwide, explores marine fungal biodiversity and oil remediation applications. Central to this, I need a dedicated Biosafety Cabinet to train my team to culture marine fungi from environmental samples. This equipment is not currently available at Acadia University. Without this cabinet, my research will be slowed significantly as it is crucial for building my cryopreserved collection of marine fungi which will be screened for their genomic and proteomic potential to degrade hydrocarbons. Culturing is the first step in DNA barcoding and phylogenetic placement of these fungi, many of which are new to science and will be described by my HQP. A biosafety cabinet prevents contamination of the fungal specimens from airborne spores, allowing us to obtain axenic cultures of single species. Biosafety cabinets also protect the user from unwanted inhalation of fungal spores. The requested equipment will support my research team and other groups at Acadia as well as research collaborations and HQP throughout the Atlantic Provinces examining the regional distribution and impacts of hydrocarbons on marine ecosystems. Proteomic screening of selected isolates for p450 cytochrome molecules will be done in the lab of my collaborator Dr. Erin Bertrand (CRC Marine Microbial Proteomics, Dalhousie).