Stewardship Report Prepared for the Kikkoman Foundation 2021
Dear Mick, Thank you for investing in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences. The Kikkoman Foundation has had a longstanding relationship with UWM, supporting our university for more than 30 years. In 2013, that support moved to a new level with your $1 million gift to support ecosystem health research and clean water. In honor of your gift, we named these faculty labs collectively the Kikkoman Healthy Water Labs. Your visionary support has been fundamental to our research success. Your lead gift subsidized the cost of crucial equipment and supported the Great Lakes Genomics Center, which in turn supports the groundbreaking work of our faculty and researchers devoted to human and ecosystem health. Support from the Kikkoman Foundation has inspired research leading to important discoveries, and these discoveries have spurred additional funding from a variety of sources. This report offers a glimpse into just a few research projects made possible by the generosity of the Kikkoman Foundation. Here, our faculty provide snapshots of their work and highlights of what has been accomplished by the labs they lead. Thank you for your many years of partnership and your visionary support. We could not have come this far without you. Best regards,
MARK A. MONE, PHD Chancellor
MEET THE HUMAN AND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH FACULTY GROUP
Identifying Pathogens in Water Sandra McLellan Professor The major research focus of my laboratory is to investigate the connections between environmental processes and human health. Urban coastal areas are greatly impacted by pollution sources, including stormwater runoff and sewage overflows. Oftentimes, pathogens are present that can contaminate our beaches and drinking-water supplies. My lab has secured funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop new indicators for these pollution sources so that management strategies can be devised to protect the Great Lakes and human health. We are particularly interested in maintaining recreation opportunities for our region and have focused on what causes high levels of E. coli. This bacteria is used as an indicator of water quality at beaches but can persist in the sand and confound beach testing accuracy. We use genomics to understand the intrinsic response of E. coli when it is introduced into beach sand and have found that a major driver of survival appears to be nutrients. These studies have led us to build recommendations for beach management that will reduce beach closures and offer alternative criteria for beach closings. This work has resulted in funding from Sea Grant and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. When the global pandemic emerged last year, our lab was well positioned to rapidly establish a SARSCoV-2 wastewater surveillance program with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, the state’s public and environmental health laboratory. With funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, we also worked on communication strategies with public health professionals, so they may more effectively use these data. Our work continues as we track new variants of the virus and determine trends of infection in the community.
Making Discoveries About Bacteria Ryan Newton Assistant Professor My research group examines the distribution and activities of bacteria across several aquatic environments, including wastewater, drinking water, aquaculture (fish farming), and rivers/lakes. We use DNA-based tools to follow changes in the bacterial communities so that we can improve our understanding of their impact on human or ecosystem health, as well as identify opportunities for beneficial manipulation of these communities. Currently, we are using DNA sequencing to characterize the bacteria in sewage conveyance systems, especially those in Milwaukee. We found that only a small percentage of bacteria in sewer pipes originate from the human body. Instead of human associated bacteria, it turns out the majority of bacteria in wastewater are part of a permanent microbial ecosystem living in the pipes beneath our feet. This basic understanding has led to studies by us and others linking the differences in bacteria in wastewater to human health characteristics, developing more specific and sensitive indicators of sewage pollution in recreational waters, and identifying how wastewater bacterial communities influence wastewater treatment processes at municipal treatment plants. In collaboration with other labs at the School of Freshwater Sciences and various colleagues at other institutions, we have also used DNA sequencing techniques to: 1) understand how diet and fish gut microbiota interact to impact fish health and growth in an indoor aquaculture setting, 2) determine how pipe material influences the development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria living in municipal pipe systems, 3) track the timing, intensity and source of pollutants entering the Milwaukee River during storm events so that effective mitigation strategies can be developed, and 4) reconstruct the genomes of hundreds of bacteria from across the Laurentian Great Lakes, which established the identity of many new bacterial species and identified bacteria impacting critical nitrogen cycling in the deepest waters of the lakes.
Monitoring the Effects of Toxicity Michael Carvan Shaw Professor As Shaw Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, I conduct research focused on gene-environment interactions and identifying genes that influence sensitivity and resistance to environmental chemicals, especially those that cause birth defects or developmental problems. My current work focuses on the public health impacts of developmental methylmercury exposure, including those that occur in developing embryos and young children when a mother has been exposed through consuming contaminated fish. My laboratory has been working on a collaborative Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) project to develop molecular models, so we can predict effects of neurotoxic contaminants on the behavior of fish. We are comparing four species to look for commonalities that can be extrapolated to other fish species. We are also using this data from individuals to model potential effects at the population level. We have found that mercury exposure to embryos cause neurobehavioral effects in adults, and even cause abnormalities in their children and grandchildren. This is likely an epigenetic phenomenon, i.e., it is a gene expression response and not the result of DNA damage or mutations. We are also working on a multi-laboratory project with the EPA National Toxicology Program to validate the use of small laboratory zebrafish toxicity data to make regulatory decisions on the toxicity of chemicals to humans.
Exploring Contaminants Rebecca Klaper Vice Dean, Professor and Director of the Great Lakes Genomics Center My research examines the impact of various emerging contaminants (nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals) as well as natural stressors on freshwater organisms. We are using genomic data as a tool to investigate the impacts of these various potential stressors and to develop biomarkers of exposure and effect to be used as tools for ecological risk assessment. The goal of my research is to inform the sustainable development and use of chemicals. One important area in my research is determining the mechanisms by which manufactured nanomaterials may impact aquatic organisms. This research has also identified ways in which manufactured nanomaterials may be redesigned to be safer for product use. We have identified multiple pharmaceuticals that may be having an impact on the nearshore of the Great Lakes and tributaries, including the anti-diabetes drug metformin and its byproducts as well as plasticizers. We have also used genomic technologies to identify biomarkers that point to new mechanisms by which emerging contaminants may cause impacts to aquatic ecosystem health and can serve as monitoring tools.
Using Genomics The Great Lakes Genomincs Center is the nation’s first research center dedicated solely to the application of groundbreaking genomic and molecular tools to issues of freshwater management and health. School of Freshwater Sciences researchers are internationally recognized for their expertise in using genomics to address pollution concerns in fresh water. They are at the cutting edge of a field that will drive water management best practices and inform domestic and international water policy in the 21st century. The Great Lakes Genomics Center’s research is central to all phases of freshwater protection and management — measuring biodiversity and ecosystem health; managing sustainable supplies of clean fresh water for human consumption and recreation; developing more efficient tools for monitoring, treating and reclaiming water; and mitigating the impacts of pollution, climate change, urbanization and other stressors. We have served as a resource for over 20 labs at UWM for researchers studying freshwater environmental health, human health and development. We also have assisted many national and international laboratories that need to use genomic tools for environmental and human health research, and we have sequenced several species important to the Great Lakes ecosystem, fisheries and aquaculture, including yellow perch, mayfly and walleye. Several companies have relied on us to use genomic technologies for water monitoring, disease monitoring and the development of pharmaceuticals and pesticides.