Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, and Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto.
Biography: Professor Elizabeth Edwards holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, and a Ph.D. degree (1993) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. She is known for her work on anaerobic bioremediation, the application of molecular biology and metagenomics to uncover novel microbial processes, and the transition of laboratory research into commercial practice to develop bioremediation and bioaugmentation strategies for groundwater pollutants. Professor Edwards’ research team discovered and characterized novel microbial cultures such as the now commercial KB-1® consortium that metabolize pollutants previously thought to be recalcitrant. This discovery led to the founding of SiREM Laboratories in Guelph in 2002. Professor Edwards and her team were awarded the 2009 NSERC Synergy Award for their highly successful partnership with Geosyntec Consultants and SiREM deploying the K-1® microbial consortium at industrial sites contaminated with chlorinated solvents around the world. Dr. Edwards is also the founding director of BioZone, a Centre for Applied Bioscience and Bioengineering Research at the University of Toronto and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Anaerobic Biotechnology. In 2016, she was awarded the Canada Council of the Arts Killam Prize in recognition of her outstanding career achievements and was appointed an Officer in the Order of Canada (Canada’s highest civilian honour) by the Canadian Governor General in 2020.2019, and being recognized by Research.com as one of the top 25 environmental scientists worldwide.
Lecture title: “The complex microbiology of pilot and full-scale anaerobic digestion systems”
ABSTRACT
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an effective process for converting organic material into methane and carbon dioxide. AD is the result of a beautifically intricate and complex interactive microbial ecosystem. Inexpensive sequencing technology has enabled unprecedented exploration of these ecosystems uncovering thousands of new microbes and putative genes. Yet how can we extract meaningful and actionable data from these microbiological data? We have investigated solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) as a viable alternative for organic waste disposal, particularly in North America where tipping fees are low, because it minimizes the costs of waste pretreatment, mixing, and subsequent wastewater treatment. We have operated a laboratory SS-AD digester affectionately called “Daisy” for several years. Daisy comprises six 10L leach beds and is fed a mixture of cardboard, boxboard, newsprint, and fine paper, and varying amounts of food waste. The addition of food waste results in enhanced fiber conversion, but is this enhanced conversion explained by microbial community composition? We have also investigated full scale AD systems treating pulp and paper mill waste streams and tracked the associated microbial communities. These data reveal the importance of time with respect to adaptation of the microbial community and response to perturbations. Appreciating microbial community dynamics, and in particular different process and metabolic time constants will contribute to improved AD operation.
