Events

Nov

10

EES Seminar Series: Ludmilla Aristilde

McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering

2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

EVENT DETAILS

Physical and Biochemical Dynamics of Carbohydrates in Mineral Pores and Bacterial Cells: Molecular-Scale Insights

Carbohydrates, which include small compounds (sugars) as well as complex biopolymers (cellulose, starch), are intimately involved in the cycling of water and nutrient fluxes in environmental matrices. Secretions of carbohydrates are implicated in the retention of hydrated soil nanopores near plant roots and microbial cells despite severe dryness in the bulk soil. The microbial processing of carbohydrates is important both in natural carbon cycling and in engineered waste conversion to biofuels. My research group combines experimental techniques with theoretical simulations to unravel the underlying chemical and biochemical mechanisms in these processes. This presentation will highlight two main research efforts, which have led to novel molecular insights into the role of carbohydrates in the trapping of water within mineral nanopores and in the selective bacterial conversion of cellulosic wastes to biofuel products. These insights advance our understanding on how to predict these natural bioenvironmental processes and to exploit them for engineered purposes.

Ludmilla Aristilde is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. While growing up in Haiti, Aristilde’s interest in environmental issues was sparked by witnessing the impacts of deforestation on the environment and the links between water pollution and health during an epidemic outbreak of cholera. After emigrating to the States, she came to Cornell and completed in 2003 a dual-degree program with a B.S. in Science of Earth Systems and a B.F.A. in Fine Arts. She went on to the University of California-Berkeley where she obtained her M.S. in Environmental Engineering and Ph.D. in Molecular Toxicology in 2008. Her research was on the environmental chemistry and toxicology of pharmaceutical compounds discharged in waters and soils. After Berkeley, she went to Grenoble (France) as an American Fulbright Scholar to advance her study of spectroscopic techniques to investigate the trapping of organic contaminants by mineral particles. Prior to her return to Cornell in 2012, she spent three years as a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University where she studied molecular biology tools to address problems at the interface of environmental chemistry and biological processes.

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TIME Friday, November 10, 2017 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it

CONTACT Tierney Acott tierney-acott@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering

Sep

18

CEE Faculty Retreat

McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

10:00 AM 1702 Chicago Ave

EVENT DETAILS

Annual faculty retreat

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TIME Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

LOCATION 1702 Chicago Ave

CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

Sep

18

CEE Department BBQ & Poster Session

McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

4:00 PM 225 Greenwood St

EVENT DETAILS

Annual CEE BBQ and Poster Session to begin the academic year.

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TIME Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

LOCATION 225 Greenwood St

CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

Sep

20

CEE New Student Orientation

McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

8:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

EVENT DETAILS

Orientation for new students to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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TIME Friday, September 20, 2024 at 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it

CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

Sep

23

Welcome & Luncheon for New Full-time Graduate Students

McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

11:00 AM Ryan Auditorium, Technological Institute

EVENT DETAILS

Enjoy a welcome from Dean Christopher A. Schuh and other McCormick leaders, and receive a Northwestern Engineering T-shirt. A free lunch on the Tech East Plaza will follow.

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TIME Monday, September 23, 2024 at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

LOCATION Ryan Auditorium, Technological Institute map it

CONTACT Andi Joppie andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

Sep

24

Fall 2024 Classes Begin (No Northwestern Monday in Fall)

University Academic Calendar

All Day

EVENT DETAILS

Fall 2024 Classes Begin (No Northwestern Monday in Fall)

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TIME Tuesday, September 24, 2024

CONTACT Office of the Registrar nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

Sep

27

EES Seminar- Nanqing Zhou

McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

EVENT DETAILS

Title: Production of Nanoplastics and Bioavailable Carbons by Wastewater Comamonas

Abstract: Comamonadacae bacteria are enriched on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics in wastewaters and urban rivers, but the PET-degrading mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated these mechanisms with Comamonas testosteroni KF-1, a wastewater isolate, by combining microscopy, spectroscopy, proteomics, protein modeling, and genetic engineering. Compared to minor dents on PET films, scanning electron microscopy revealed significant fragmentation of PET pellets, resulting in 3.5-fold increase in the abundance of small nanoparticles (< 100 nm) during 30-day cultivation. Infrared spectroscopy captured primarily hydrolytic cleavage in the fragmented pellet particles. Solution analysis further demonstrated double hydrolysis of a PET oligomer, bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate, to the bioavailable monomer terephthalate. Supplementation with acetate, a common wastewater co-substrate, promoted cell growth and PET fragmentation. Of the multiple hydrolases encoded in the genome, intracellular proteomics detected only one, which was found in both acetate-only and PET-only conditions. Homology modeling of this hydrolase structure illustrated substrate binding analogous to reported PET hydrolases despite dissimilar sequences. Mutants lacking this hydrolase gene were incapable of PET oligomer hydrolysis and had 25% decrease in PET fragmentation; re-insertion of the gene restored both functions. Thus, we have identified constitutive production of a key PET-degrading hydrolase in wastewater Comamonas, which can be exploited for plastics bioconversion.

Bio: Dr. Nanqing Zhou is a postdoctoral scholar working with Prof. Ludmilla Aristilde at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University. Dr. Zhou obtained her B.S. in Environmental Science and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China. She then obtained a doctoral degree in Marine Biosciences from the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on applying multi-omics approaches to unravel the metabolic network in biotechnologically relevant microbes using waste carbon sources.

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TIME Friday, September 27, 2024 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it

CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

Sep

30

McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

EVENT DETAILS

TBA

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TIME Friday, November 15, 2024 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it

CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL

CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

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