UKRI are presenting our lab in a suitcase for molecular water microbiology as one of their research impacts and outcomes case studies.
UKRI showcases our lab in a suitcase
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Category Archives: Uncategorised
Spatiotemporal variation of bacterial hazards in the Akaki catchment, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Molecular markers link Vibrio cholerae hazards in the Akaki catchment to human sewage pollution. 0.6-20% of fecal coliforms in the rivers of the catchment had ESBL producing antibiotic resistance traits. Hazards were highest in the dry season when river water is used for irrigation. Read our paper in Science of the Total Environment.
Metal exposure of residents in the Akaki catchment
Sometimes you find the opposite of your hypothesis. Despite of the river pollution from domestic, industrial, and commercial activities in Addis Ababa, higher metal levels were found in nails of residents living in the upstream rather than the downstream area of the Akaki river catchment. Excellent work led by Dr Dessie and colleagues in Ethiopia.
If universities want to hit climate targets, they should use their land for carbon offsetting
Universities could use their massive land holdings to offset carbon in their own backyard. My Piece in The Conversation is based on Jiaqian Wang’s work. The figure panel a) below shows how arable land stores the least amount of carbon per surface area, while panel b) shows that most of the current land use at Newcastle University’s Nafferton and Cockle Park farms is arable. Panel c) shows how medieval slash and burn agriculture created a boundary between agricultural land and woodland at Nafferton farm, that leaves trees only in the most inaccessible places such as Whittle Dene.
Reflections on World Toilet Day
I co-wrote Reflections on World Toilet Day with Dr Kishor Acharya and Dr Alemseged Tamiru Haile from IWMI based on five years of Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supported collaborations with partners across the World. Our main take-away message: Much remains to be done, in low-, middle-, and high-income countries alike, to achieve SDG6.
Framework for carbon off-setting in land managed by universities
Jiaqian Wang published a paper describing how Newcastle University could offset up to 50% of its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by land use change at its research farms. Read also our press release on the topic.
Biochar applications for water treatment in aquaculture
Another output from our Newton Fund collaboration with partners at KMUTT in Thailand: The paper Valorisation of agricultural waste derived biochars in aquaculture to remove organic micropollutants from water – experimental study and molecular dynamics simulations was just published in the Journal of Environmental Management.
On-site molecular diagnostics
Kishor, Adrian, Rixia and Aom skillfully delivered a fantastic on-site molecular diagnostics workshop for delegates from Newcastle University, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Leeds. Using Russell’s BeWISe Van and our Suitcase Lab we were able to demonstrate the on-site detection of marker genes for human host associated Bacteroides (HF183) in river water. A global first?
Holidays in Switzerland
Highly variable metaldehyde dissipation in soil can explain its environmental persistence
Nathan Keighley has published a first paper from his PhD on the variability of metaldehyde biodegradation rates in UK soils for locally relevant environmental conditions. These findings can explain why the compound is found in surface water and causing problems for drinking water providers, contrary to the predictions of regulatory environmental fate assessments. Nathan’s PhD is part of the IAFRI partnership between Fera Science Ltd and Newcastle University.
