Modern Biotechnologies for Wastewater Treatment

Modern biotechnologies have been widely used in clinical diagnosis, food production, and the pharmaceutical industry. Their applications in wastewater treatment have greatly improved the accuracy and efficiency of characterizing biological systems in biological wastewater treatment plants and the natural environment.

This course is designed for graduate students and working professionals who would like to learn modern biotechnologies in wastewater treatment and how to apply these biotechnologies to understand, characterize, and optimize wastewater treatment systems and plants. At the end of the course, students are expected to understand modern biotechnologies and their applications in wastewater treatment, select appropriate biotechniques to understand, characterize, and optimize wastewater treatment systems, and assess public health risks associated with antibiotic resistant bacteria and viruses in wastewater.

Week 1:

• Introduction of Microbiology
• Fields of Microbiology
• Microbe Types and Metabolic Lifestyles

Week 2:

• Electron Donor and Acceptor
• Stoichiometry and Half-reactions
• Free Energy
• Cell Synthesis
• Developing Overall Stoichiometric Equations

Week 3:

• Membrane Filtration
• Membrane Filtration Challenges
• Microbial Aggregation and Biofilm
• Biofouling and Control

Week 4:

• Molecular Ecology Study
• Microbial Community Analysis
• Activity Assays and FAME
• Fluorescence in situ Hybridization
• Molecular Microbiology Tools

Week 5:

• Antibiotics
• Antibiotic Resistance
• Horizontal Gene Transfer
• Evolution and Selfish Gene
• Viruses