MEES IN THE NEWS

DECEMBER 2024 - biotechnology month

NEWS ARCHIVE

MEES RESEARCH CENTER

THE FOOD-WATER-ENERGY NEXUS: A STUDY IN SUSTAINABLE NITROGEN MANAGEMENT

YANYU WANG (ECOL SYS, ‘21)

Yanyu Wang (‘21, ECOL SYS.) is a MEES doctoral student at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) Appalachian Laboratory.   Advised by Professor Xin Zhang, Yanyu’s doctoral research focuses on sustainable nitrogen management through the interactions between agriculture production and sustainable Food-Energy-Water nexus with data-driven approaches.  The research also involves the participation of different stakeholders and experts. Prior to joining the MEES Graduate Program, this native of Ma’an Shan, an industrial city across from the Yangtze River in Eastern China, grew up in an environment characterized by extensive industrialization that clashed hard with mother nature.  The city’s main economic source was in a steel company and a thermal power plant who were one of the largest employers and GDP contributors in the province, but were also the largest polluting agents on the Yangtze River  Yanyu credits her parents who provided the opportunity to study abroad in search of solutions to the pollution crisis in her hometown.   This led Yanyu to study environmental science from an interdisciplinary approach and further explore the relationship between humans and the ecosystem.  Yanyu earned her B.S. in Environmental Science from Anhui Agricultural University (AAU) in 2017, and through an international partnership program, had the opportunity to transfer and complete her B.S. degree in Ecosystem Science & Sustainability graduating with honors (magna cum laude) at Colorado State University in Spring 2019 with a near perfect 3.967 cumulative GPA.  According to Dr. Debra Holman, who was part of a visiting team of CSU faculty to AAU, Yanyu took leadership roles to support student engagement and was the recipient of the Water Scholars Program Scholarship, a distinguished $25,000 scholarship granted to only one new CSU CP student per year for academic excellence and promise in sustainability and water research.  Under the advisement of Dr. Stephen Del Grosso (CSU) and Dr. Catherine Stewart (USDA), Yanyu was selected to participate in the SUPER (Skills for Undergraduate Participation in Ecological Research) program where her undergraduate research focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) model comparisons under different nitrogen fertilizer management practices and tillage options. During this project, Yanyu gained insights on land use management as an adaptation of climate change and became interested in exploring the sources of emitting reactive nitrogen and how to mitigate its negative environmental impacts.  During her senior year, Yanyu had the opportunity to participate  in the UN International Nitrogen Management System project with Dr. Jill Baron of the US Geological Survey who, in partnership with a colleague in China, was examining the valuation of nitrogen budget costs/benefits in Tibet.  Upon graduation in Spring 2019, Yanyu joined the Environmental Sciences Master’s program at Emory University under the advisement of Dr. Eri Saikawa in the fall of that same year.  Her Master’s thesis research explored which cover crop system (which is considered as one of the sustainable land management strategies based on its ability to prevent soil erosion and enhance soil organic carbon stock) has the greatest potential in mitigating Green House gases (GSG) emission.  This ‘climate-smart’ agriculture project measured and analyzed soil trace gas fluxes (CO2, N2O, and CH4) under different cover crop systems (crimson clover, cereal rye, white clover, and traditional) in cornfields at the University of Georgia.  The research found that all cover crop systems are shown as a methane (CH4) sink to absorb emissions and that the living mulch system (white clover) has the potential to increase soil labile C while it emitted more CO2 and N2O emissions.  Yanyu had the opportunity to present the research results as the first author at the oral session at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in December 2020.  Yanyu graduated with her Master’s from Emory University in May 2021 with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Yanyu is currently pursuing a Marine Estuarine and Environmental Science doctoral degree at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES).  During her career in MEES, Yanyu has earned an award for nearly every year she’s been in the program: the highly competitive CMNS Dean’s Fellowship (2021-2022) and the program’s distinguished Debbie Morrin Nordlund Memorial Fund (2024). Yanyu aims, upon completion of her MEES doctoral degree,  to educate the next-generation of young scientists in formulating solutions to the impacts of climate change specialized in the agriculture field.   Yanyu is also deeply committed to empowering women to pursue STEM careers and to help achieve sustainable Nitrogen management as well as aiming to bring scientific knowledge to people who can truly use them. For more information on Yanyu, please click here.

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Dr. Jonathan CUmmings Sustainable Bioenergy feedstocks

Dr. Jonathan Cummings is professor and chair of  the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.  Dr. Cummings is also a MEES faculty member, and has participated as a member in the MEES PC (Program Curriculum) Committee.  Dr. Cummings leads the keystone STEM department serving students from the Delmarva Peninsula, the State of Maryland, the region, country, and many nations.  Dr. Cummings is also a team leader in the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) through Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a research role focused on solving complicated plant-soil interactions associated with producing sustainable biofeedstocks for the bioenergy sector.  Along with being recently featured in a January 2024 UMES article regarding a leading USDA Natural Resources Conservation service funded project centering around utilizing the byproducts of chicken litter as biofuel and fertilizer on cover cropped fields, in this November 2024 UMES article provides further updates on this renewable energy research in progress which is investigating if several varieties of trees and other plants, such as switchgrass, can be grown, harvested economically and used as sustainable bioenergy feedstocks.  

In the article, Dr. Cummings notes the benefits of plant bioenergy feedstocks which absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and convert it into biomass through photosynthesis.  

“Bioenergy is one future source of renewable energy, but there are a lot of variables that effect both the economics and the sustainability of biofeedstock sources,” said Dr. Jonathan Cummings [snip]. “We are investigating a diverse portfolio of feedstocks for their viability for this purpose. They require a lot of processing to yield energy-dense fuels, such as aviation fuel, but they provide many benefits.”

Along with mitigating climate change, these plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and also transfer organic carbon into the ground, enhancing the health of the soil. Dr. Cummings along with researchers associated with the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at the Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee are looking into field testing the eastern cottonwood and nine genotypes of poplar trees can be altered genetically to deposit more carbon in the soil and be more drought resistant to withstand the effects of climate change.  Trees could be ready for harvest after three years, and the tree trunks would be ground and the lignin and cellulose extracted and used for feedstocks for biofuel production.

This project is seeking farmers who are interested in growing specific alternative crops and become part of the renewable energy initiative on the Eastern Shore. For more information on Dr. Jonathan Cummings, please click here.

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Dr. tsvetan bachvaroff

next generation sequencing: the dinoflagellate

Dr. Tsvetan Bachvaroff is an Associate Research Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) based in Baltimore, MD at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET).  A long time MEES faculty member who has advised many MEES graduate students, Dr. Bachvaroff  has received numerous academic awards, including the William Trager Award from the Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. Dr. Bachvaroff’s research interests is focused on dinoflagellate evolution with special emphasis on the parasitic dinoflagellates, using large scale sequencing and phylogenetic methods to describe the evolutionary history of different types of genes in dinoflagellates. Dr. Bachvaroff was recently featured along with Dr. Lisa Moren, professor of visual arts at UMBC and artist-in-residence at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, a National Endowment for the Arts recipient and Fullbright scholar, in a UMBC article regarding a collaboration a new creative project “Under the Bay,” an augmented reality app that allows users a glimpse into the lives of the dinoflagellates. Bringing the project to life are close collaborators Marc Olano, associate professor of computer science and director of UMBC’s game development track, and Baltimore-based composer Dan Deacon. Dr. Bachvaroff contributed the DNA of the dinoflagellate [pyrosistis] algae specifically responsible for bioluminescence, which was then through a ten-page Word file of “agct” patterns was transposed into a music file [midi] via an open-source algorithm. A 78 page musical score was created from this process and an over six hour mp3 file. For more on this unique project, please click here.

Dr. Bachvaroff also instructs many MEES courses including the very popular UNIX Command Line for Environmental Scientists (MEES 609F), Next Generation Sequencing and Analysis (MEES 687), and the Environmental, Molecular Science and Technology Foundation course: Cell and Molecular Biology for the Environmental Scientist- From Genes to Ecosystems (MEES680). In 2018, the UMCES Graduate Student Council created an award that recognized faculty for their commitment to students beyond the classroom. Dr. Bachvaroff was awarded the inaugural UMCES Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award which was awarded on the even of the 2018 UMCES commencement.

In the UMCES article, graduate students remarked on Dr. Bachvaroff’s accessibility and his mentorship of other students, even though he “is the official advisor to only a few students.” Many students related their experiences of Dr. Bachvaroff taking time to help them through tough programming code, or on class projects saying that Dr. Bachvaroff “is a strong believer of learning by doing.”

Dr. Bachvaroff was also part of a group scientists who have used new genetic sequencing data to understand how an ancient organism that lived alongside the dinosaurs has evolved over millions of years. A four-year effort by a genetic research team from a dozen universities has uncovered for the first time the biology and evolution of dinoflagellates, tiny but complex organisms primarily known as marine plankton which aid in turning sunlight into oxygen and serve as the building blocks of fossil fuel. However, they are also responsible for toxic algal blooms that kill off a large number of fish and are toxins shellfish that can harm humans. Using molecular, fossil and biogeochemical evidence to map major evolutionary landmarks over the millions of years in the evolution of dinoflagellates, these scientists aim to map the large number of complex chromosomes (12 to 400) in a single dinoflagellate; humans have only 23 pairs which total 46.

The IMET article indicates that the findings could lead to a better understanding of how bioluminescence works, how to turn off harmful red tides, or how to identify areas rich with oil by looking at fossilized dinoflagellates in the rock.

“They violate the fundamental rules of Darwinian evolution. They tend to borrow genes from different places,” Bachvaroff said. “The ocean is like this giant parts catalog where from which you can grab genes and use them. Organisms that can acquire genes from their environment have a selective advantage.” (article)

In addition to receiving his Certificate in Emergency Medical Services and serving as a Paramedic with the Baltimore City Fire Department for four years, Tsvetan Bachvaroff received his B.A. degree from Johns Hopkins University and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland College Park. He was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Center of Marine Biotechnology and subsequently with the Smithsonian Institution. He assumed his present position in 2013 as Research Assistant Professor for the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) at The University System of Maryland. For more on Dr. Bachvaroff, please click here.

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MEES RESEARCH CENTER

microbial pathogenic genomics: a study on vibrio cholerae

Elisa Taviani (Ph.D., ‘11) is a Molecular microbiologist and Senior Researcher in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences (DISTAV) at the University of Genoa in Ligura, Italy.  Elisa, who is currently based in Maputo, is currently serving in various scientific and academic roles; teaching molecular microbiology, applied and experimental biology as well as conservation courses at the graduate and undergraduate level at the University of Genoa.  Since 2021, Elisa is also serving as the manager and scientific coordinator of a project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation promoting higher education, training and research in bioscience in Mozambique. Advised by Distinguished University Professor Dr. Rita Colwell, Elisa earned her doctoral degree in MEES at the University of Maryland, College Park in Spring 2011. Elisa’s dissertation research focused on Vibrio cholerae, a comma-shaped bacteria naturally found in brackish or saltwater that attach themselves to shells of crabs, shrimp, and other shellfish. Some strains of V. cholerae are pathogenic to humans and cause a deadly disease called cholera, which can be derived from the consumption of undercooked or raw marine life species or drinking contaminated water.    The study aimed at conducting research on antibiotic resistance and infectious diseases, pathogenicity factors in clinical and environmental  of V. cholerae, and the role of Horizontal Gene Transfer in microbial pathogens evolution,  specifically regarding the genomics of V. cholerae and how acquisition of heterologous genetic material by V. cholerae has influenced its differentiation and adaptation to different niches in the aquatic environment, as well as its role as a human pathogen.  After graduation, Elisa has served in various roles managing and supervising international scientific cooperation projects in Africa. Elisa’s research interest is focused on microbial pathogens genomics, HGT in microbial evolution, molecular epidemiology of enteric pathogens, genetic mechanisms and diffusion of AMR, international public health. For more information on Elisa, please click here.

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