Dr Zhiyue Wang
University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
Abstract: Microbial encapsulation is an emerging technology for various environmental applications ranging from removal of nutrients to remediation of contaminants. Encapsulation technology has advanced in the last decades with recent findings in new encapsulation materials, pure and enrichment culture studies, and improved mathematical models and molecular tools. Nevertheless, complex interactions between encapsulated microorganisms and between microorganisms and their surrounding matrices remain unclear. This hinders the predictive application of microbial encapsulation within and beyond the field of environmental engineering. Our recent studies developed a one-dimensional mathematical model that simulates the encapsulated growth and verified with a defined system of encapsulated Nitrosomonas europaea. The model successfully predicted the concentrations gradients of chemical species as well as the spatial distribution of cell growth. In addition, we developed a new method to track microbial colony formations during encapsulated growth. With the combination of microtome and fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques, differential growth of multiple groups of microorganisms were measured with temporal and spatial resolutions. This presentation will summarize major findings from the development of novel mathematical and microscopic tools, which helped advance the understanding of microorganism–encapsulant interactions and thus facilitate future predictive applications of microbial encapsulation in resource recovery, contaminant removal, and environmental remediation.
Host：Prof. Chengcheng Li
China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)
EEH Early Career Board Member
Time：02:00pm Feb 17, 2023 (Beijing time)
Zoom ID: 816 9975 7155
Bilibili: 25002335
