Free
The Perry McCarty Distinguished Lecture Series
"Anaerobic microbial consortia: An enriching experience that started for me at Stanford"
Elizabeth Edwards, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Professor, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
Director, BioZone: Centre for Applied Bioscience and Bioengineering Research
ABSTRACT: Groundwater contamination is a serious threat to global health and prosperity. Petroleum hydrocarbons and halogenated industrial chemicals are some of the most frequent culprits. Some microbes have evolved and adapted specialized mechanisms to transform or detoxify organic contaminants in the environment. A fascinating group of subsurface microorganisms, collectively referred to as organohalide-respiring bacteria, are remarkably able to obtain energy for growth from highly specific dechlorination reactions that transform the offending chemicals and often reduce or even eliminate toxicity. These microbes grow best in a consortium with other microbes, exchanging nutrients for survival. Several successful demonstrations of bioaugmentation, where an aquifer is inoculated with microbes, have lead to the development of a commercial market for anaerobic dechlorinating enrichment cultures to clean up contaminated sites. Much is still to be learned about the survival and biodegradative mechanisms in microbial communities that perform such useful functions. The lessons we can glean from cooperation and competition in these microbial ecosystems have far-reaching implications in environmental and human health.
BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Elizabeth Edwards holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, and a PhD degree (1993) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. She is internationally known for her work on anaerobic bioremediation, the application of molecular biology and metagenomics to uncover novel microbial processes, and the transition of laboratory research into commercial practice to develop bioremediation and bioaugmentation strategies for groundwater pollutants. She has lead successful large-scale collaborative research partnerships with industry as a way to foster knowledge transfer into practice.
Her research has garnered several awards, including a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Synergy Award for Innovation with Geosyntec Consultants (2009), a Killam Research Fellowship (2008), a Premier’s Research Excellence Award (2003), and an NSERC Women’s Faculty Award (1995). She is a fellow of the AAAS (2011), and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2011) and the Royal Society of Canada (2012).