Research

Interrogating microbial communities to address emerging challenges and opportunities in wastewater treatment.

Examining wastewater as a resource of water, nutrients, energy, and information, our research interrogates microbial communities in wastewater treatment systems.

Research areas of focus include:

  • The fate of emerging contaminants—including pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds—in wastewater
  • Wastewater surveillance for emerging biological and chemical contaminants
  • Optimized and sustainable biological wastewater treatment

Discharge of emerging contaminants or their metabolites from wastewater treatment systems may harm aquatic species or pose a potential risk to human health if the water is reused. While not specifically designed to remove emerging contaminants, both centralized wastewater treatment plants and decentralized (septic or onsite) systems can serve as barriers to the release of these contaminants into the environment.
Detecting pathogens and chemicals in wastewater using tools in molecular biology and analytical chemistry gives us information about disease incidence and chemical exposure in the contributing populations.
We can better understand the fate of contaminants in natural and engineered systems by studying biodegradation mediated by microbial communities using DNA and RNA analyses, including metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.

Publications

Hoar, C.*; McClary-Gutierrez, J.*; Bivins, A.*; Wolfe, M.*; Bibby, K.; Silverman, A.; McLellan, S. (2022) Looking Forward: The Role of Academic Researchers in Building Sustainable Wastewater Surveillance Programs.ÌýEnvironmental Health Perspectives.Ìý.

Sivaganesan, M.; Willis, J. R.; Karim, M.; Babatola, A.; Catoe, D.; Boehm, A. B.; Wilder, M.; Green, H.; Lobos, A.; Harwood, V. J.; Hertel, S.; Klepikow, R.; Howard, M. F.; Laksanalamai, P.; Roundtree, A.; Mattioli, M.; Eytcheson, S.; Molina, M.; Lane, M.; Rediske, R.; Ronan, A.; D’Souza, N.; Rose, J. B.; Shrestha, A.;ÌýHoar, C.; Silverman, A. I.; Faulkner, W.; Wickman, K.; Kralj, J. G.; Servetas, S. L.; Hunter, M. E.; Jackson, S. A.; Shanks, O. C. (2022) Interlaboratory Performance and Quantitative PCR Data Acceptance Metrics for NIST SRM® 2917.ÌýWater Research.Ìý.

Hoar, C.*; Li, Y.*; Silverman, A. I. (2022) Assessment of Commonly Measured Wastewater Parameters to Estimate Sewershed Populations for Use in Wastewater-Based Epidemiology: Insights into Population Dynamics in New York City during the COVID-19 Pandemic.ÌýACS ES&T Water.Ìý.

Hoar, C.; Chauvin, F.; Clare, A.; McGibbon, H.; Castro, E.; Patinella, S.; Katehis, D.; Dennehy, J. J.; Trujillo, M.; Smyth, D. S.; Silverman, A. I. (2022) Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater during New York City’s Second Wave of COVID-19: Sewershed-Level Trends and Relationships to Publicly Available Clinical Testing Data.ÌýEnvironmental Science: Water Research & Technology..

Sathyamoorthy, S.*;ÌýHoar, C.*; Chandran, K. (2018) Identification of Bisphenol A-assimilating Microorganisms in Mixed Microbial Communities usingÌý13C-DNA Stable Isotope Probing.ÌýEnvironmental Science & Technology.Ìý.

*authors contributed equally

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