MSB: Joint United States - European Union Theoretical and Practical Course on Molecular Approaches for in situ Biodegradation

该奖项为将于2009年5月24日至6月7日在俄克拉荷马大学举办的为期两周的环境生物技术课程提供支持。这门课程向接受过分子微生物学和/或微生物生态学培训并希望将这些技能应用于解决环境问题的早期职业学者开放。本课程旨在提供现代生物技术方法的实践经验，以分析微生物及其代谢活动，这对修复污染的环境至关重要。这门课程将集中于被现已关闭的城市垃圾填埋场污染的冲积含水层的教学努力。这一国家研究场地为研究与各种生物地球化学过程有关的空间和时间变异性提供了极好的机会，并将利用含水层的样品来调查污染物在确定的生态条件下的代谢命运。为了实现这些目标，课程的结构包括与现场和实验室相关的练习的混合。在实验室中，学生将通过实践讲座、介绍应用于环境基质的分子生物学技术的实践练习以及与环境微生物学和生物技术领域的杰出专家的一对一咨询相结合的方式学习。课程将涵盖一系列用于土壤、沉积物和水分析的化学、微生物和分子技术。正式的教学和实验室活动将通过杰出科学家的研讨会来加强，他们将涵盖与学生在课程中所做的事情相关的研究领域。这些科学家还将在课堂环境之外与学生互动，以促进在不那么正式的场合进行讨论和学习。最后，该项目将产生实质性的更广泛的影响。该项目的核心原则之一是将年轻科学家聚集在一个论坛上，为未来的协作互动奠定基础。这一努力是为了以不同的方式挑选最优秀的下一代学者，为他们提供必要的培训和技能，以便他们共同的科学背景将使他们能够在未来的环境问题上进行合作。此外，当他们未来担任有影响力的职位时，他们将把这一信息传递给他们的主管。毫无疑问，在这门课程中学到的生物技术技术和生态学经验将很容易被推论到全球其他生态系统。

This award provides support for a two-week Environmental Biotechnology course to be held from May 24th to June 7th, 2009 at the University of Oklahoma. The course is open to early career scholars who have training in molecular microbiology and/or microbial ecology and who want to apply those skills to solving environmental problems. The course is designed to provide hands-on experience in modern biotechnological methods for the analysis of microbes and their metabolic activities that are essential for the remediation of polluted environments. The course will focus instructional efforts on an alluvial aquifer contaminated by a now closed municipal landfill. This national research site provides an excellent opportunity to study the spatial and temporal variability associated with various biogeochemical processes and samples from the aquifer will be used to investigate the metabolic fate of contaminants under defined ecological conditions. In order to accomplish these goals, the course is structured to include a mixture of field- and laboratory-related exercises. In the laboratory, the students will learn through a combination of practical lectures, hands-on exercises that introduce the techniques of molecular biology as applied to environmental matrices, and one-on-one consultation with distinguished experts in the field of environmental microbiology and biotechnology.The course will cover an array of chemical, microbiological, and molecular techniques for the analyses of soils, sediments and waters. Formal instruction and laboratory activities will be augmented by seminars from distinguished scientists who will cover a research area related to what the students are doing in the course. These scientists will also interact with the students outside the classroom environment to promote discussions and learning in less formal situations. Lastly, the project will have substantive broader impacts. One of the central tenets of the project is to bring together young scientists in a forum that will set the groundwork for future collaborative interactions. The effort is to differentially select the finest next generation scholars, equip them with the requisite training and skills, so that their common scientific background will allow them to collaborate on future environmental problems. In addition, they will pass this information on to their charges when they are in future influential positions. There will be no doubt that the biotechnological techniques and ecological lessons learned in the course will be readily extrapolated to other ecosystems across the globe.