Towards a better understanding of contaminant bioavailability- urgent replacement of photosynthetic incubators

这是一个紧急的应用程序，以取代培养系统，将主要用于污染物的化学形态与他们的生物有效性。它由三个自主堆叠的光合作用孵化器组成，具有温度（环境温度-20至60摄氏度）、照明和混合控制。孵化器用于生产微生物培养物（细菌和藻类）和种植植物幼苗，这些幼苗随后在不同的物理化学条件下暴露于各种微污染物中。通常分析微生物的生物吸收和基于许多（转录组学）生物标志物的生物效应。例如，孵化器最近被用于研究稀土金属的生物吸收；鉴定Ce纳米颗粒的转录组生物标志物；以确定银纳米颗粒的命运或开发多路表面增强拉曼光谱（SERS）适体传感器来检测地表水中的微囊藻毒素。由于我们实验室的大部分工作都是研究污染物和微生物之间的相互作用，因此培养箱对于培养物的可重复性生产至关重要，培养物用于系统地评估化学生物利用度。我们目前使用的孵化器是我在日内瓦大学工作时获得的（2002年购买），并于2005年运送到蒙特利尔大学。他们已经修复了很多次，然而，只有一个孵化器（三个）目前是正常工作的。鉴于我们研究的性质，孵化器是我的多元化研究小组和合作研究项目中大多数HQP培训的关键组成部分。他们将为多学科环境科学的现代培训环境做出贡献，为学生未来有意义的就业奠定基础。

This is an urgent application to replace an incubator system that will be used mainly to relate the chemical speciation of contaminants to their biological availability. It consists of three autonomous, stacked photosynthetic incubators with temperature (ambient-20 to 60 oC), lighting and mixing controls. The incubators are used to produce microbial cultures (both bacterial and algal) and grow plant seedlings that are subsequently exposed to a variety of microcontaminants under varying physico-chemical conditions. The microorganisms are typically analyzed for their biouptake and for biological effects based upon a number of (transcriptomic) biomarkers. For example, the incubators have recently been used to study the biouptake of rare earth metals; to identify transcriptomic biomarkers for Ce nanoparticles; to determine the fate of Ag nanoparticles or to develop multiplexed surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) aptasensors to detect microcystins in surface waters. Since most of the work in our lab examines interactions between contaminants and microorganisms, the incubators are critical for the reproducible production of cultures, which are used to systematically evaluate chemical bioavailability. The incubators that we are currently using were acquired while I was working at the University of Geneva (purchased in 2002) and transported to the University of Montreal in 2005. They have been repaired numerous times, however, only a single incubator (of the three) is currently functional. Given the nature of our research, the incubators are a critical component of the training of most of the HQP in my diverse research group and within collaborative research projects. They will contribute to a modern training environment in multidisciplinary environmental sciences that will position the students for future meaningful employment.