NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Microbes and Microplastics: Microbial Adaptations during the Anthropocene

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Plastic pollution within global marine systems has created artificial surface environments for microorganisms to grow and establish unknown ecological roles.

Some microbes have the ability to degrade microplastic polymers in the environment, but it remains unclear whether certain genes that allow this degradation result normally from evolution. Understanding how these potential adaptations microbes undergo to degrade human-made plastics is critical for better understanding the impacts plastics have on the environment.

Training of this fellow will further help broaden participation by integrating research activities and instructional workshops aimed at undergraduate students within Stony Brook University’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and Institute for STEM Education (I-STEM) programs.

This project will test the hypothesis that microbial microplastic degradation effectiveness is controlled by microplastic polymer type and unveil the core genomic adaptations that might contribute to alteration of the global carbon cycle. Deployment of sampling arrays containing clean microplastic debris of common polymer types (polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene, and polycarbonate) along a contaminant gradient in the Long Island Sound will promote natural microbial colonization for hypothesis testing.

Determining rates of microplastic degradation according to polymer type in a laboratory setting will further complement field sample analysis by linking microbial identities to function via predictive models of plastic-degraders’ impact on global budgets. Integrative training in advanced molecular techniques (i.e., stable isotope probing, fluorescence in-situ hybridization of cells, and Raman microspectroscopy) and advanced genomic techniques (i.e., metapangenomics and metatranscriptomics) will advance the fellow’s early academic career development and increase understanding of the impacts of microbial microplastic degradation across all three domains of life.

Hands-on exposure to these advanced techniques within Stony Brook University’s WISE and I-STEM programs will most importantly lay the foundation for young aspiring minds to pursue career paths in global change biology.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.