Old Dog, New Tricks: Engineering Microorganisms for Environmental Release, Remediation, and Risk Assessment
A Warren Distinguished Lecture with
Cresten Mansfeldt
Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Colorado Boulder
ABSTRACT
In agricultural, industry, and medicine, innovative bioprocesses increasingly displace chemical and physical methods. Many of these new techniques or products benefit from optimized or evolved bacterial metabolic pathways. Bacteria acquire these new traits through either directed evolution or synthetic genome mutation, raising concern over intellectual property preservation and product tracking and regulation. This talk focuses on understanding the potential benefits of and solutions to tracking engineered microorganisms designed for environment release (EMERs). New general molecular biology tracking methods and computational techniques will be discussed in terms of a case study of applying new approaches to post-wildfire contamination management.
In agricultural, industry, and medicine, innovative bioprocesses increasingly displace chemical and physical methods. Many of these new techniques or products benefit from optimized or evolved bacterial metabolic pathways. Bacteria acquire these new traits through either directed evolution or synthetic genome mutation, raising concern over intellectual property preservation and product tracking and regulation. This talk focuses on understanding the potential benefits of and solutions to tracking engineered microorganisms designed for environment release (EMERs). New general molecular biology tracking methods and computational techniques will be discussed in terms of a case study of applying new approaches to post-wildfire contamination management.
SPEAKER
Cresten Mansfeldt is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department and Environmental Engineering Program. He received his BCE from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University, and he worked for several years at Eawag, the Swiss Federal Aquatic Research Science Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. His research focus investigates partnering with and controlling built environment microbiomes to address novel contaminants and resources.
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