SIU researcher wins $624,500 NSF-CAREER grant to develop microbes to mitigate plastic waste

August 27, 2024

by Tim Crosby

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Can a microbe be used to eat our way out of the growing problem of plastic waste in our environment? A Southern Illinois University Carbondale researcher thinks it might be possible, and he's using a large federal grant to investigate.

Lahiru Jayakody, associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, is looking at engineering a novel microorganism with the ability to break down various types of plastics into its basic building blocks, or monomers. The process would provide a way to handle waste plastics polluting the environment, while also providing the monomer precursors for other valuable chemicals.

Jayakody recently received a prestigious five-year CAREER grant of up to $624,500 from the National Science Foundation to pursue the work at SIU starting Sept. 1. Along with equipment and supplies, the grant also will fund one postdoctoral researcher, two doctoral students, one undergraduate researcher and local high school students.

Also known as the Faculty Early Career Development Program, CAREER grants seek to support early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their departments or organizations.

"It is really a dream to receive such a highly competitive award," said Jayakody, thanking his students for providing the vital preliminary data that helped garner the grant.

Goals for the project include developing an efficient microbial process to selectively deconstruct mixed plastic waste and to find ways to funnel the resulting compounds to create high-value chemicals.

A global issue

Anywhere between 19 million and 23 million tons of petroleum-derived plastics enter landfills and the oceans each year. The growing problem is having a substantial impact not only on the environment but on human health. Some studies suggest humans ingest up to 40 pounds of plastic during their lifetime, due to its ubiquitous presence in the environment and its use as packaging for food and water.

Jayakody has been on the cutting edge of finding innovative ways to deal with this issue. His research team's other ongoing projects include investigating a way to upcycle waste coffee and tea into microbes to be used to generate a biodegradable alternative to some plastics, as well as µBites (which means "microbites"), which uses specialized yeast to turn waste biomass and plastic into proteins that can be consumed as alternative food sources.

Jayakody hopes to pioneer an innovative, sustainable microbial-based biological system that would convert the carbon in current common petroleum-based plastics - such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polyurethane (PU), polycarbonate (PC) - into high-value platform chemicals. Such biochemicals might eventually be used to replace petroleum-based polymers altogether.

"This would remarkably reduce plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions," Jayakody said.

Wonder bug

The key aspect to making this new cycle work is a new bug that will do all the work: Erwinia renovo LJJL01. Created from a related bacterium engineered to efficiently break down PET plastics into their original monomers with secreted plastic-degrading enzymes, the new microbe will selectively break down mixed plastic into its original monomers and convert them into high-value chemicals.

To do this, the researchers will use high-tech genomics, RNA sequencing, proteomics, metabolomics and other techniques aimed at identifying the molecular mechanisms that optimize plastic-degrading enzyme secretion.

"We will develop synthetic biology tools and metabolic engineering approaches to tailor an efficient strain for plastic upcycling," Jayakody said. "The final goal is to develop a microbial strain for consolidated bioprocessing of plastic."

The project will fill the knowledge gap on microbial engineering approaches for polymer deconstruction and the creation of innovative chemicals, Jayakody said.

"We're going to learn more, in-depth knowledge about this novel bacterium and its incredible metabolic capacity, its chemical toxicity tolerance and other factors," he said. "And from that, we'll generate a unique dataset that will help us develop a new host capable of advancing the process."

Preparing for the future

Creating such a process would in turn require educating up-and-coming scientists and engineers in this new approach. The project, therefore, comes with a strong educational component.

Jayakody's work will establish advanced synthetic microbiology and biotechnology educational programs at SIU. The efforts are centered on developing the workforce required to combat plastic pollution.

Much of the work will take place in the BioLaunch Core Facility at the McLafferty Annex on the west side of campus. Announced in 2022, the state-of-the-art, 7,500-square-foot facility was one of eight new wet lab spaces funded by the Rebuild Illinois capital program.

"We want to provide rich, synergistic, interdisciplinary research experiences for graduate and undergraduate students, postdoc and industry, including ethnic minorities and first-generation college students, and promote career opportunities," Jayakody said.

He also will create educational innovations for the plastics industry and genetic engineering efforts and reach out to the local community and its younger students to make them aware of the evolving, new technologies in upcycling waste plastic.

"We'll strive to create a deeper awareness of plastic waste's impact on health, the environment and the economy and engage the public to adopt better policies to battle global plastic waste," he said. "Since this is foundational yet transitional research, we're eager to secure additional funding, industrial support and investor backing to further develop the technology."

Risk vs. reward

Jayakody said SIU has been extremely supportive of his work, which has helped the project move forward.

"This research involves high-risk, high-reward, hypothesis-driven work that demands dedication to achieve our set goals," he said. "I have great confidence in my research team's and our collaborators' ability to handle the scientific challenges, and I have consistently received excellent support from the SIU administration to smoothly run the projects."

(Note to editors: Lahiru Jayakody's name is pronounced La-HIGH-roo JAY-ya-kody.)

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