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» Proteomics and
Functional Genomics
Core Facility at
UW Oshkosh
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The Environmental Microbial Physiology and Ecology Lab

The lab has been bustling with activity! We have several new members! Weston Fredenberg, a member of our 2006 NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates continues to work with us through funding from the WiscAMP program. Kelsey White, a 2007 REU Site student participant, is also working in the lab with funding through the same program. Both Weston and Kelsey are working to apply mass spectrometry-based fingerprinting techniques to a medically-relevant microorganism -- methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Several undergraduates, most recently Phil Anderson, and graduate students, most recently Becky Giebel, continue to obtain DNA fingerprints of E. coli obtained from recreational waters and beaches in Wisconsin. Our database of fingerprints now exceeds 2,000 isolates! An example gel containing nearly 40 fingerprints and a representation of the relationship among some DNA fingerprints is shown below:




Craig Worden is working tirelessly with Will Kovac using DNA microarrays to examine how pH mediates metal toxicity. The figure below shows that pH affects microbial responses to metals (cadmium, in this case); Cadmium is absent in (A) and present in (B). Green represents higher expression at pH 7, while red represents higher expression at pH 5.




In addition to using PCR-based fingerprinting technologies, our lab is developing mass spectrometry-based methods of microbial fingerprinting. Former graduate student Tom Siegrist published a paper describing this method for E. coli with undergraduate Phil Anderson. Shortly thereafter, Becky Giebel co-authored with Weston Fredenberg a paper describing use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to characterize isolates of Enterococcus. The figure below provides an overview of the process and a representative "fingerprint".





Doug Hoffman (former UW Oshkosh undergraduate and graduate student and now a research microbiologist at Kimberly-Clarke Corporation) Jennifer Okon (recent UW Oshkosh undergraduate), and I recently published the results of a study that investigated the impacts of medium composition on cadmium toxicity during naphthalene biodegradation. Chris Grandlic (former UW Oshkosh M.S. student and current Ph.D. candidate at The University of Arizona), Ian Geib (former UW Oshkosh undergraduate) and I also recently published results of another study that examined effects of lead pollution on bacteria indigenous to sediments of a nearby lake. Like nearly all of the projects that students work on in my lab, these required use of instrumentation housed within our Proteomics and Functional Genomics Core Facility at UW Oshkosh.

More information on each of these project can be found on the Students page.

Additional recent and current research endeavors include investigations into:

- functional genomics- and proteomics-enabled strategies to identify biomarkers for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

- the use of a biological surfactant to mitigate cadmium toxicity to naphthalene-degrading bacteria

- relationships between bioavailable metal concentration and activity of bacterial mechanisms of metal resistance

- impacts of pH on metal speciation and resultant toxicity to bacteria

- biodegradation of complex mixtures of organic pollutant: effects of non-aqueous liquids (NAPLs) on biodegradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons

- the metal sensitivity of organic pollutant-degrading bacteria indigenous to Fox River sediments

- metal impacts on bacterial biodiversity

- molecular and metabolic methods of identifying pollutant-degrading bacteria

- effects of carboxymethyl cyclodextrin on the toxicity of cadmium to a naphthalene-degrading bacterium

If you are interested in getting involved in any of these projects or are interested in any kind of research in microbiology and/or environmental science, contact me via email or stop by my office (HS-151) or lab (HS-143).

Some recent publications, many of which resulted from the work described above, include:

Giebel R, Fredenberg W, Siegrist, T, Sandrin, T. Characterization of Environmental Strains of Enterococcus sp. using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). 2008. Water Research 42: 931-940.

Siegrist TJ, Anderson PD, Huen WH, Kleinheinz GT, McDermott CM, Sandrin TR. 2007. Discrimination and Characterization of Environmental Strains of Escherichia coli by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Journal of Microbiological Methods 68(3): 554-562.

Sandrin TR, Hoffman DR. 2007. Bioremediation of Organic and Metal Co-contaminated Environments: Effects of Metal Toxicity, Speciation, and Bioavailability on Biodegradation. Invited contribution to: Environmental Bioremediation Technologies. Singh SN and Tripathi RD, eds. pp. 1-34. Springer-Verlag: Berlin.

Grandlic CJ, Geib I, Pilon R, Sandrin TR. 2006. Lead pollution in a large, prairie-pothole lake (Rush Lake, WI, USA): Effects on abundance and community structure of indigenous sediment bacteria. Environmental Pollution. 144(1): 119-126.

Sandrin TR, Kight WB, Maier WJ, and Maier RM. 2006. Influence of a nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) on biodegradation of phenanthrene. Biodegradation 17(5): 423-435.

Hoffman DR, Okon JL, and Sandrin TR. 2005. Medium composition affects degrees and patterns of cadmium inhibition of naphthalene biodegradation. Chemosphere. 59(7): 919-927.

Sandrin, T. R., D. O. TeBeest, and G. J. Weidemann. 2003. Soybean and sunflower oils increase the infectivity of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. aeschynomene to northern jointvetch. Journal of Biological Control 26:244-252.

Sandrin, T. R. and R. M. Maier. 2003. Impact of Metals on the Biodegradation of Organic Pollutants: A Review. Environmental Health Perspectives 111: 1093-1101.

Sandrin, T. R. and R. M. Maier. 2002. Effect of pH on Cadmium Toxicity, Speciation and Accumulation During Biodegradation of Naphthalene. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 21: 2075-2079.

Sandrin, T. R., A. M. Chech, and R. M. Maier. 2000. A Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant Reduces Cadmium Toxicity During Naphthalene Biodegradation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66: 4585-4588.

Al-Tahhan, R., T. R. Sandrin, A. A. Bodour, and R. M. Maier. 2000. Rhamnolipid-Induced Removal of Lipopolysaccharide from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Effect on Cell Surface Properties and Interaction with Hydrophobic Substrates. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66: 3262-3268.