BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Memento EPFL// BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:EESS talk on "Characterization of Disinfection Processes as Barrie rs to the Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Water\, Wastewat er\, and Healthcare Settings" DTSTART:20170411T121500 DTEND:20170411T131500 DTSTAMP:20260927T000440Z UID:6142fe14d8706cb3223e29ebbd5caed1388eb79277933db2d6400c3a CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars DESCRIPTION:Dr Michael Dodd\, Assistant professor\, Civil & Environmental Engineering\, College of Engineering\, University of Washington\, Seattle (USA)\, visiting professor @LCE\n\nShort biography:\n\nDr. Michael Dodd is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engin eering and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Environment al and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington. He re ceived a B.S. in Civil Engineering (2001) and M.S. in Environmental Engine ering (2003) from the Georgia Institute of Technology\, Ph.D. in Environme ntal Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (20 08)\, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Environmental Engineering Progr am of Yale University from 2008-2009\, prior to beginning his appointment at the UW in 2009. Dr. Dodd’s research interests focus on the characteri zation of chemical and photochemical redox processes in engineered and nat ural aquatic systems\, particularly with regard to their application in op timizing pollutant and pathogen elimination during water and wastewater tr eatment. Dr. Dodd has received a number of honors for his work\, including an NSF CAREER Award\, the CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertati on Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Pro fessors\, the ETH Medal from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Zur ich\, and Excellence in Review and Outstanding Reviewer awards from Enviro nmental Science and Technology and the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engin eering.\n\nDr. Michael Dodd is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the U niversity of Washington. He received a B.S. in Civil Engineering (2001) an d M.S. in Environmental Engineering (2003) from the Georgia Institute of T echnology\, Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institu te of Technology in Zurich (2008)\, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the E nvironmental Engineering Program of Yale University from 2008-2009\, prior to beginning his appointment at the UW in 2009. Dr. Dodd’s research int erests focus on the characterization of chemical and photochemical redox p rocesses in engineered and natural aquatic systems\, particularly with reg ard to their application in optimizing pollutant and pathogen elimination during water and wastewater treatment. Dr. Dodd has received a number of h onors for his work\, including an NSF CAREER Award\, the CH2M Hill/AEESP O utstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Association of Environment al Engineering and Science Professors\, the ETH Medal from the Swiss Feder al Institute of Technology-Zurich\, and Excellence in Review and Outstandi ng Reviewer awards from Environmental Science and Technology and the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering.\nAbstract:\nDisinfection processes p lay an important role in minimizing transport of viable antibiotic resista nt bacteria (ARB) within environmental systems and communities. However\, recent work suggests that antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) associated wi th ARB cells may in some cases “survive” disinfection and remain capab le of disseminating resistance traits to non-resistant bacterial populatio ns via horizontal gene transfer processes (e.g.\, natural transformation). In order to evaluate this possibility\, we are employing a combination of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and culture-based DNA activity assays to determine the effectiveness of disinfectants commo nly used in (waste)water and healthcare practice for not only inactivating ARB cells\, but also degrading and deactivating (i.e.\, eliminating the b iological activities of) ARGs associated with extra- and intracellular bac terial DNA. Our measurements of ARG degradation and deactivation kinetics indicate that for all disinfectants investigated\, ARG degradation and dea ctivation significantly lag inactivation of ARB cells (i.e.\, ARGs do inde ed “survive” disinfection)\, and that substantially higher disinfectan t exposures are required to achieve ARG degradation and deactivation than to achieve inactivation of ARB cells themselves. For some disinfectants (e .g.\, HOCl\, O3\, UV\, H2O2)\, ARG degradation and deactivation may be acc omplished at disinfectant exposure levels achievable under practical treat ment conditions\, whereas for others (e.g.\, NH2Cl\, ClO2\, phenol\, ethan ol)\, appreciable degradation or deactivation of ARGs is not expected even at the most extreme treatment conditions likely to be applied in practice . These findings could have significant implications for selection\, desig n\, and operation of disinfection processes\, and will be discussed with r espect to opportunities for optimizing\, monitoring\, and predicting ARG d egradation and deactivation during water\, wastewater\, and healthcare dis infection.\n  LOCATION:GR C0 01 https://plan.epfl.ch/theme/generalite_thm_v2?room=GR%20C 0%2001&dim_floor=0&lang=en&dim_lang=en&tree_groups=centres_nevralgiques%2C acces%2Cmobilite_reduite%2Censeignement%2Ccommerces_et_services%2Cvehi STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR