Qiang He Assistant Professor University of Tennessee

Dr. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a faculty member of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee. Dr. He received his PhD degree in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His current research focuses on biological processes underlying water and wastewater quality issues, organic waste treatment, bioremediation, and bioenergy. Dr. He teaches undergraduate courses in water and waste treatment, as well as graduate courses in environmental microbiology, aquatic chemistry, and advanced water and wastewater treatment processes.

Presentation Description
Exploiting microbially-mediated reduction of redox-sensitive metals has been proposed as a promising strategy to remediate metal-contaminated subsurface environments in situ. With the ability to reduce and accumulate heavy metals and radionuclides, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) have drawn particular attention for potential applications in heavy metal immobilization. To exploit SRB effectively for the remediation of heavy metal and radionuclide contaminated sites, it is important to understand the microbial responses to adverse environmental factors commonly encountered in these subsurface environments. Using functional genomics approaches, this study examined the responses of sulfate-reducing microorganisms in metabolic and regulatory pathways following exposure to nitrate, an important inhibitor in environments impacted by heavy metals and radionuclides, to understand the mechanisms of resistance at the molecular level. Such knowledge would facilitate the development of strategies to monitor and predict the performance of these microorganisms in bioremediation.