Students in my lab have had the opportunity to participate in a wide-array of collaborative projects. One of the advantages of being a microbiologist at a STEM focused institution with a great number of engineering program is the opportunity to try new things. The only disadvantage is many of the project never get to the point of publication but it is still worth trying. In addition, we have outstanding colleagues in the humanities and social sciences who provide valuable contributions to the societal impacts of what we do.
Single-cell ICP-MS analysis of metal-microbe interactions
One of the more recent collaborations has been with Dr. Honglan Shi and several colleagues at the US EPA. This project has been exploring the interactions of copper nanoparticles with bacterial cells. This particular project looked at interactions with Legionella pneumophila with the idea of exploring the use of copper nanoparticles as an approach to disinfecting water systems. Using an avirulent strain of L. pneumophila we looked at the amount of copper (on a single cell basis) necessary to kill the bacteria.
Microbial fuel cells
Several years ago, the Missouri S&T iGEM team came up with a project to engineer E. coli to work effectively in a microbial fuel cell. While the project did not get very far, the concept has remained an area of interest. Recently, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with a post-doc, Dr. Shao Han, and his advisor, Dr. Risheng Wang to explore the use of DNA nanostructures to facilitate electricity generation.
Relevant publications.
Han, S., Thapa, K., Liu, W., Westenberg, D., and Wang, R. 2022 Enhancement of electricity production of microbial fuel cells by using DNA nanostructures as electron mediator carriers. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c04399
Microbially induced calcium carbonate aggregation
A project that began out of a conversation with a student taking a course on microbial metabolism. The student was a member of our campus concrete canoe team and had heard about concrete forming bacteria. He wanted to try introducing the bacteria into cement samples that might be used for a future canoe. We obtained the organism and they did some preliminary pours but didn’t get very far with the project. Many years later, a new colleague at Missouri S&T, Dr. Hongyan Ma was interested in using this organism and others for recycling concrete fines. This work led to one publication.
Relevant publications.
Khanjani, M., Westenberg, D.J., Kumar, A. and Ma, H. 2021. Tuning Polymorphs and Morphology of Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate: Controlling Factors and Underlying Mechanisms. ACS Omega, 6(18): 11988-12003. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c00559
Breast cancer marker studies.
Although this is out of my area of expertise, I had an opportunity to host a refuge scientist and help with her studies to use RT-PCR for clinical analysis of breast cancer patients.
Relevant Publications.
Gheni, N. and D.J. Westenberg. 2020 Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assay with Immunohistochemical evaluation of HER2/neu Oncogene in Breast Cancer Patients and Correlation with Clinicopathological Findings. Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology. 63:123-28
Safety of obscurant smoke made from soybean oils
A fascinating series of projects resulted from the chance observation that oil smoke vapors had antibacterial properties. We initially set out to use the Ames Mutagenesis Assay to compare the relative safety of generating obscurant smoke using renewable oils such as soybean oil instead of petroleum based oil smokes. These obscurant smokes are used the the military to mask troop movements. These experiments led to the observation that oil smoke vapors had broad-spectrum antibacterial properties and led to three MS thesis in my lab, three publications, and two patent disclosures described on a separate page on this website
Spectroscopic methods to detect bacteria
Following the anthrax attacks in 2001 the lab had an active collaboration with another colleague in chemistry, Dr. Cliff Merrow. We were trying out various strategies to specifically detect Bacillus anthracis (using safe simulant organisms as a proxy). A PhD thesis with three manuscripts resulted but the manuscripts never got published. That’s science.
Separation of microbes by capillary electrophoresis
One of the earliest collaborations at Missouri S&T (UM-Rolla at the time) was with chemistry colleague, Dr. Dan Armstrong. In addition to using a variety of microbes to test the ability to separate them via capillary electrophoresis, we were also testing the antimicrobial properties of various enantiomeric compounds.
Relevant publications:
Schneiderheinze J.M., Armstrong D.W., Schulte G. and D.J. Westenberg. 2000. High efficiency separation of microbial aggregates using capillary electrophoresis. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 189:39-44.
Armstrong, D.W., Schulte, G., Schneiderheinze, J.M., and D.J. Westenberg 1999. Separating microbes in the manner of molecules: I. Capillary electrokinetic approaches. Anal. Chem. 71:5465-5469