Join us!
Time: 9-12
Location: 2200 E. 6th St., Austin, TX 78702
http://www.utelementary.org/
Juan P. Maestre |
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This Friday I will be giving a couple of lectures about Microbes and Environment at UT Elementary School for the Science Week. I will be talking about the UTBiome project! Join us! Time: 9-12 Location: 2200 E. 6th St., Austin, TX 78702 http://www.utelementary.org/
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Microbes are everywhere, including those that have coevolved in and on us. The human microbiome plays an important physiological role and recent evidence indicates that this microbiome is changing. Microbial diversity is reduced as urbanization and westernization have increased. However, the effect of the built environment on the human microbiome is not well understood. The presentation will show results from a study conducted in the Amazon Basin that considered humans and indoor environments in dwellings ranging from a village in the jungle to a major metropolitan area. Samples of microbes from building occupants, home pets, building materials and home objects were collected to assess the influence that urbanization level and corresponding environmental conditions have on microbial communities. Preliminary results indicate that changes in the use of home space and architecture, lead to changes in environmental parameters, ventilation rate, and building materials that are relevant to home microbes.
November 12th, 2013 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. ACE Building, Avaya Auditorium Jordan Peccia's Talk: 'Integrating Molecular Biology with Engineering to Blow up Black Boxes'2/23/2013 We have a a great visitor in town next week who will give a seminar sponsored by the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (EWRE) program. Jordan Peccia of Yale University will speak on Wednesday the 27th at 4 p.m. in ECJ 1.204 on Integrating Molecular Biology with Engineering. ABSTRACT "Although expedient, modeling complex biological systems using empirical data and a black box concept is not a robust approach for improving system performance. The advent of high-throughput molecular biology-based methods provides tools to better understand the mechanisms that underlie natural and engineered biological systems. In this seminar, I will present three examples of integrating engineering fundamentals with molecular tools to address problems associated with biological systems. They include: (i) metagenomics to determine the full diversity of, and infectious risk associated with viruses in wastewater, (ii) de novo transcriptomics of oleagenous microalgae to optimize growth conditions and suggest genetic engineering targets to improve biofuel precursor production, and (iii) fungal phylogenetics on house dust samples to determine how fungi are involved in the development of childhood asthma." I will present my work on studying the cometabolism of monochloramine by Nitrifiers 'Cometabolism of Monochloramine by Nitrosomonas europaea under Drinking Water Conditions ' An increasing number of water utilities are using monochloramine (NH2Cl) as a residual disinfectant. In spite of monochloramine’s clear benefits regarding disinfection by-products, chloramination presents a major problem: the occurrence of nitrification in distribution systems. A rapid decay of the NH2Cl residual has been associated with the onset of nitrification. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, which oxidize ammonia to nitrite, are able to cometabolize other chemicals with similar structures to ammonia. Although much research has been dedicated to NH2Cl decay and nitrification onset conditions, the significance of ammonia oxidizers and NH2Cl cometabolism in NH2Cl loss has not been studied. This research not only demonstrates the importance of NH2Cl cometabolism during nitrification episodes, but also provides an approach for including NH2Cl cometabolism in water quality models. Hope to see you all on Thursday at 3:30 PM in ECJ 1.204. University of Texas at Austin |
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January 2014
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