ME: Metabolic Engineering of Root-Colonizing Bacteria for Rhizoremediation of Chlorinated Ethanes and Heavy Metals

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

This project will combine the multidisciplinary expertise of the Principal Investigators (PIs) to develop a potentially reliable and economical process for the simultaneous removal of heavy metal and organopollutants from contaminated soil. Integration of metabolic engineering strategies with testing in real soil settings represents a unique effort that expands the fundamental development of metabolic engineering into a practical remediation technology. The benefit to society will be the development of an environmentally benign strategy that addresses mixed waste contamination in an inexpensive manner.

This project involves intersection of principles and methods of molecular genetics, protein engineering, and environmental engineering. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers participating in this research will gain an integrated perspective of the important interfaces and synergies connecting biochemistry, modern genetics, and process engineering. As the integration of research and education is one of the key programs of NSF, the proposed research will involve the participation of K-12 school students, undergraduates and graduate students, particularly form underrepresented groups.

The full impact of this project will be the development of a metabolically engineered root-colonizing bacterium that can be used for simultaneous removal of heavy metal and organopollutants. An optimized host for TCE degradation and heavy metal removal/resistant will be engineered by employing parallel protein engineering, surface engineering, and pathway engineering strategies.

StatusFinished
Effective start/end date9/15/038/31/08

Funding

  • National Science Foundation: $765,847.00

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