Robotic Screening of Microorganisms to Bioremediata Metals

Bioremediation holds great promise for cost effective treatment of environmental contaminants. To realize this potential, microorganisms with improved bioremediation capabilities must be found. A general systematic approach is described to use 96-well microtiter plate technology and robots to screen rapidly microorganisms for their bioremediation capabilities. Microbial strains will be grown in 96-well microtiter plates and robotically screened for binding or detoxification of toxic metals. An EPA colorimetric assay will be implemented on the robot for Cr(VI) and microbial strains screened for detoxification or binding of Cr(VI). Physiological conditions will be parameterized for selected strains for both bioreactors and in situ applications. In Phase II, the robotic screening will be expanded to screen approximately 10,000 bacterial strains and test the bioremediation traits for additional metals, including radionuclides. The scale of the work is only possible using robots. The most promising strains will be tested for metal binding or detoxification in shaker flask experiments and bench scale bioreactors systems with flowthrough of contaminated groundwater. The research will produce a library of 10,000 microorganisms indexed by bioremediation capabilities, and cross-indexed by bioreactor conditions and operating constraints.