Supervision Team: Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay (University of Glasgow), Dr William Peveler (University of Glasgow) and Dr Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui (Universit‚ Sorbonne Paris Nord)

Context of the Project: Hospital wastewaters have been shown to be responsible for the release of drugs and antibiotics to environmental waters. This has potentially severe impacts on environmental microbial populations and could accelerate the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. The project aims to develop a new sensing technique combining Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and high precision thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). Raman scattering is a widely used chemical analysis technique that provides spectra which act as fingerprints of the molecule under study. Its sensitivity can be extraordinarily enhanced by adding metallic nanostructures in the direct vicinity of the molecules reaching sensitivity up to the single molecule level. However, when used in complex system such as wastewaters, SERS provides spectra with multiple peaks corresponding to the whole range of compound found in the sample. HPTLC is a portable chromatography technique, that allow the separation of different compound in a liquid mixture. However, it does not give a chemical identification. Therefore, the combination of both techniques would fill the drawbacks of each and allow the development of small, sensitive, rapid response analytical tools for the exhaustive characterization of pharmaceuticals in water.

Aim of the Project: The literature reports of some promising results when SERS is performed on HPTLC place where a solution of metallic nanoparticles has been injected on the fluorescent spots revealed by HPTLC. Instead, we propose to elaborate HPTLC plates decorated with nanoparticle fabricated by lithography. Nanofabrication techniques allow to control the size, the shape and the distribution of the nanoparticles on the surface. In Universit‚ Sorbonne Paris Nord (Nathalie Lidgi-Guigui), we have developed several techniques of soft lithography for the fabrication of large assembly of nanostructures on all kind of surfaces including insulating or flexible. At the University of Glasgow, we have developed leading edge method for two-dimensional chromatography of complex environmental samples and specialize in multivariate analysis method to interpret analytical signals. The researcher will be based two third of the time at the University of Glasgow and the rest of the time in Paris.

Candidate Profile: We are looking for a candidate with interest in environmental sciences. They will have a demonstrable background in analytical chemistry, materials or physical chemistry, candidates familiar with HPTLC or Raman spectroscopy would be particularly appreciated. The candidate will have a strong motivation for interdisciplinary projects. Interested candidates should contact Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay (Caroline.Gauchotte-Lindsay@glasgow.ac.uk) before January 14th.

Supervision Team: Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay (University of Glasgow), Dr Kate McAulay (Glasgow Caledonian University)

Context: Hospital wastewaters have been shown to be responsible for the release of drugs and antibiotics to environmental waters. This has potentially severe impacts on environmental microbial populations and could accelerate the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. Contrast agents for X-ray imaging (X-Ray CAs), while not the most frequently used, have been demonstrated both to be recalcitrant to remediation and to present an environmental risk. These drugs are principally taken in hospital as in or out-patients. This provides us with an opportunity to treat the waste separately from other pharmaceuticals, focusing on either recovering pharmaceuticals directly from urine.

Aim of the Project: A new novel approach for the removal of contrast agents involves utilizing a combination of electrochemical techniques and low molecular weight gelators. Low molecular weight gels (LMWGs) are a promising new class of materials for the treatment of wastewater. These differ from polymer hydrogels as they do not contain physical chemical bonds between the structures. However, in many cases the general term "hydrogel" is liberally applied to both of these distinctively different gel systems. Recently, within the literature there have been reports in the excellent ability of polymer hydrogels to remove pollutants such as oil, toxic metals, dyes and pharmaceuticals. However, there are fewer reports into LMWGs. Chemically the structures of various contrast agents are comparable to those of LMWGs. The proposed tasks are broken into three sections. The first investigation is to manipulate contrast media to assess their potential to form gels electrochemically. The second is to incorporate pollutants into existing LMWGS. Both of these approaches will result in the pollutants forming a hydrogel. When in gel from these gel/pollutants can then be easily removed from the water. Due to the nature of these LMWGs these can be easily destroyed and reused. The third section of the electrochemical investigation will be producing a method to reverse the pollutant/gel mixtures (normally by using a simple pH switch). This will result in the removal of pollutants from water and consequently the ability to recover the high value pharmaceutical. Due to the vast number of parameters that can be controlled electrochemically it is also possible to explore the selective removal of different pollutants from wastewaters containing multiple contaminants.

Candidate Profile: We are looking for a candidate with interest in sustainable solutions. They will have a demonstrable background in organic chemistry, materials or physical chemistry, candidates familiar hydrogel formation would be particularly appreciated. The candidate will have a strong motivation for interdisciplinary projects. Interested candidates should contact Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay (Caroline.Gauchotte-Lindsay@glasgow.ac.uk) before January 14th.

Supervision Team: Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay (University of Glasgow), Dr Umer Ijaz (University of Glasgow), Dr Juan Ye (University of St Andrews)

Context: Industrialisation has left behind a legacy of pollution that can present serious risks to human health and the environment. The traditional approach for dealing with contaminated soil has been disposal to landfill (dig and dump), however, rising landfill tax means that this is becoming increasingly costly. Bioremediation, which uses microorganisms to treat contaminated soil, is a cost effective and sustainable alternative that has been deployed for petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. However, the challenge is now to apply bioremediation to soils containing more complex hydrocarbon mixtures, particularly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Understanding and ultimately engineering the biodegradation of PAH contamination requires us to profile these intricate mixtures as they change in time and space and correlate the emergent patterns with microbial diversity. This means we need to deploy new analytical tools.

Aim of the Project: Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GCxGC-MS) is an analytical method that has a resolution power that is at least an order of magnitude higher than that of common gas chromatography methods, which means that thousands of compounds can be separated in one analysis with minimal sample preparation. It is therefore the ideal tool for studying complex hydrocarbon samples. The limitation of current state of the art in GCxGC studies, however, is that the amount of information provided is so large that data reduction or targeted analysis are still the most common approaches to data analysis. However, these techniques might not be sufficient to handle non-linear relationships between parameters. Advanced analytical techniques need to be developed to assess the full potential of GCxGC-MS data. Guided by information theoretic approaches, we intend to develop dimensionality reduction techniques that offer a tradeoff between discrimination and correlation by consolidating additional dataset such as 16S rRNA sequencing and metagenomics with GCxGC-MS. Additionally, we want to extend GCxGC-MS by developing meta community ecology framework for GCxGC-MS by focusing on potential biochemical transformation networks. To this end, we have already developed novel integrative'omics tools to seamlessly integrate chemical and the DNA data, and will be the starting point. As a targeted application of these approaches, the student will run micro or mesocosm on soil contaminated with coal tar. The mechanism of the overall degradation of the samples will be investigated by using comprehensive characterisation of the samples for chemical composition and microbial communities. The additional aim is then to understand the enzymatic processes involved in the co-degradation of contaminants to eventually be able to model the end-products of biodegradation in complex samples.

Candidate Profile: We are looking for a candidate with interest in environmental sciences. They will have a demonstrable background in analytical chemistry or environmental chemistry, candidates should be comfortable with or willing to learn to use statistical tools. The candidate will have a strong motivation for interdisciplinary projects. Interested candidates should contact Dr Caroline Gauchotte-Lindsay (Caroline.Gauchotte-Lindsay@glasgow.ac.uk) before January 14th.