Award Abstract # 2237889
CAREER: Thermal proteome profiling applications for in-situ bioreporting of contaminant degradation in soils

NSF Org: CBET
Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH INC
Initial Amendment Date: January 5, 2023
Latest Amendment Date: January 5, 2023
Award Number: 2237889
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Sunny Jiang
cjiang@nsf.gov
 (703)292-7858
CBET
 Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems
ENG
 Directorate for Engineering
Start Date: February 1, 2023
End Date: January 31, 2028 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $560,398.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $441,172.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2023 = $441,172.00
History of Investigator:
  • Justin Hutchison (Principal Investigator)
    jhutch@ku.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
2385 IRVING HILL RD
LAWRENCE
KS  US  66045-7563
(785)864-3441
Sponsor Congressional District: 01
Primary Place of Performance: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
2385 IRVING HILL RD
Lawrence
KS  US  66045-7552
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
01
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): SSUJB3GSH8A5
Parent UEI: SSUJB3GSH8A5
NSF Program(s): EnvE-Environmental Engineering
Primary Program Source: 01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002728DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 090Z, 1045, 9150
Program Element Code(s): 144000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.041

ABSTRACT

Emerging contaminants, commonly referred to as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), are anthropogenic chemical pollutants that are increasingly being detected in soils, surface water systems, and groundwater aquifers. In the United States, CECs pose a significant threat to the Nation?s drinking water resources. Microorganisms in soils play a critical role in the protection of drinking water sources by degrading anthropogenic chemical pollutants into harmless and nontoxic byproducts. However, our ability to grow soil microorganisms and characterize/harness the enzymes responsible for the degradation of CECs has remained elusive. The overarching goal of this CAREER project is to advance the fundamental understanding of microbial enzyme-soil interactions with the goal of developing and validating proteomic-based assays and techniques to probe the microbial degradation of CECs in soils. To advance this goal, the Principal Investigator proposes to combine soil characterization, active enzyme extraction from soils, predictive modeling, and thermal proteome profiling (TPP) to 1) probe and unravel the microbiological attenuation of CECs in soils and 2) detect and discover novel enzymes that can degrade CECs in soils. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the generation of new fundamental knowledge on CEC microbial degradation pathways to support the development and deployment of natural and engineered solutions to protect drinking water sources. Additional benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of a graduate student and four undergraduate students at the University of Kansas.

Contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) threaten the Nation?s drinking water sources and access to clean and fresh water. Understanding and harnessing the degradation of CECs by microbial communities in soils, surface water systems and groundwater aquifers could lead to greater source water protection. The goal of this CAREER project is to investigate and unravel the degradation pathways of CECs by microbial communities in soils using advanced proteomic techniques including thermal proteome profiling (TPP). This innovative approach leverages protocols and assays developed and used extensively in drug discovery to identify a pharmaceutical's protein target. However, a barrier to applying TPP to environmental remediation problems is a lack of knowledge of how active enzymes interact with complex soil matrices, including a robust framework to assess and quantify the extraction of active contaminant-degrading enzymes from soils. The specific objectives of this research are to: 1) probe and unravel the interactions of contaminant-degrading enzymes with complex soil matrices, 2) develop predictive models of soil-enzyme extraction efficiency based on sorption isotherms, proteolytic potentials, and machine-learning approaches, and 3) integrate model predictions and advanced ?omic? techniques (e.g., metagenomics and meta transcriptomics) to validate the use of TPP as a platform for (i) identifying enzymes/proteins involved in contaminant degradation and (ii) in-situ bioreporting of contaminant degradation in soils. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through the generation of new fundamental knowledge on enzyme-soil interactions to support the development and deployment of natural and engineered solutions to protect drinking water sources from CECs. To implement the educational and training goals of this CAREER project, the Principal Investigator (PI) proposes to develop classroom and research-based education modules to increase the motivation and retention of junior college transfer students. This coursework will be paired with research opportunities provided by the University of Kansas Emerging Scholars Program. Junior college transfer students will be identified through a network of eight Kansas community colleges. In addition, the PI plans to disseminate the education modules to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a primarily undergraduate institution, to recruit and engage undergraduate students in environmental engineering research at the University of Kansas.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Chacha, Wambura E. and Tran, Huu-Tuan and Scarlett, William R. and Hutchison, Justin M. "Extraction of active, contaminant degrading enzymes from soil" Applied Soil Ecology , v.187 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2023.104841 Citation Details
Hutchison, Justin M. and Hussein, Faten B. and Mayer, Brooke K. "Evaluating Sustainable Development Pathways for Protein- and Peptide-Based Bioadsorbents for Phosphorus Recovery from Wastewater" Environmental Science & Technology , v.57 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c04016 Citation Details

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