COPH Faculty Receives RDC Grant to Study the Sinking Creek Microbiome
Dr. Phil Scheuerman, Professor in the Department of Environmental Health in the College of Public Health and Dr. Karl Joplin in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, have been awarded an RDC grant to conduct a comparative, extensive, high resolution temporal and spatial characterization of the microbiome in Sinking Creek, a fecal pathogen contaminated stream in East Tennessee, use next generation sequencing techniques (NGS).
The study will evaluate if there are correlations and interactions between environmental and abiotic factors that can be used to identify the presence and source of fecal pollution in freshwater streams. Research questions and specific aims include the description of the microbiome, the seasonal stability of these assemblages, the source and distribution of pathogens and indicator bacteria, the impact of anthropogenic and natural abiotic stressors on the microbiomes of each ecological niche.
This project will provide pilot data that will result in publications and be used in developing funding proposals to the National Science Foundation and the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. Publications of this study will help establish research in this cutting-edge field of study. The study will also partially support the dissertation research of Dennis Gilfillan a PhD student in Environmental Health Sciences.
The scientific benefit will be an improved understanding of microbial communities and pollution dynamics and impacts from land use in freshwater streams. These results will establish the microbial biodiversity in a high resolution sampling of a standardized freshwater Appalachian aquatic environment. Expected application of these research results will lead to an improved model for identifying pollution sources affecting this biodiversity that will be necessary in developing strategies to remediate pollution.