This $443,477 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems will support research and education activities at Rice University from February 1, 2023 through January 31, 2028.
The project aims to advance environmental microbiome engineering for wastewater treatment and resource recovery applications. Specifically, the principal investigator will develop and validate novel strategies for harnessing horizontal gene transfer to edit wastewater microbiomes and enhance recovery of resources from organic wastes. Key objectives include designing donor and plasmid systems to deliver functional genes to microbial communities, characterizing factors influencing gene transfer rates and stability, and demonstrating in situ editing of a wastewater microbiome to overcome bottlenecks in lignocellulosic bioprocessing.
Additionally, the grant will integrate these research activities with an education plan focused on synthetic biology ethics and revamping environmental engineering curriculum. Educational goals will be implemented through a research experience for teachers program and development of curricular modules on bioethics for dissemination to local high schools.
This project aligns with the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), which seeks to foster innovation and excellence in engineering research and education to improve quality of life and economic strength.
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