Dong Wu
Biography
I’m Donny (Dong WU) from Shanghai, China, but I grow up in the middle of China (been there for 20 years), Henan Province that is a lot like the center states of USA. I study environmental engineering from undergraduate to graduate, and now I’m a senior PhD student of East China Normal University. In the fall of 2012, I went to UK and got my 1 st honor MSc degree in Newcastle University in the northeast of England. Also, the two-year experience in Newcastle, running four 20L parallel wastewater treatment bioreactors, opens research doors to me, opportunities to be an academic. (regards to Prof. Bing Xie and Prof. David Graham). After the MSc program, I went home country and chose to be a PhD student and a teaching assistant of the environmental engineering course for undergraduates. Apart from study, I love basketball games, do gym regularly, a foodie as well. I am a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean (though the Dead Men Tell No Tales is a disaster), X-Men, and Breaking Bad.
Project Summary
Major one:
My major PhD project is the study of the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in solid waste processing chains, which is funded by China National Science Foundation (Project No. 31311197). In this project, two MSc students and I took samples from the wastes transport stations and landfills in Shanghai. We analyzed antibiotic contents, nutrients levels, and AMR genes abundance in the wastes and leachates. The aims of my projects are to show how the contents of antibiotics varied along with domestic wastes treatment process, how the disposal of antibiotics (especially the clinical important ones) affect the occurrences of AMR, and to assess if our conventional treatment systems are applicable in the control of widespread AMR.
Others:
The other projects that I am involved in are more in the realm of the environmental science including microbial ecology, biochemistry and modeling/risk assessments (check my CV for details). I also design domestic wastewater treatment systems and write conceptual reports for small local companies in Shanghai.
Highlights of my interests:
Now, I am interested to decipher the interactions among microbes in engineered systems, like wastewater treatment systems and domestic solid waste landfills. Most jobs I’ve done are related to bacteria, which I think are even smarter than our homo-sapiens, as they know when and what to take or lose according to changes environment conditions. I am now fascinated by the seemly promiscuous dissemination patterns of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). As concluded by Darwin, all of the creatures’ behaviors are regulated by manners maximizing energy harvests from environments and becoming dominant. However, to establish meaningful models describing their distributions or evolvements also needs good knowledge from more basic sciences like chemistry and mathematics, to show how electrons and how much energy flow. So here I come. I will be responsible for running two parallel bioreactors in Thomas Borch’s lab. They are expected to tell us the fate of antimicrobials/biocides in hydraulic fracturing fluids that are used in shale gas exploitation. Also this experiment may show us a new picture of microbes’ lives 2-4km underground, and in which way they will interact with the injected antimicrobials by human beings. The results could probably be the missing puzzle to identify the “smoking gun” triggers the evolution of AMR from the “age of dinosaurs”.
For more details about the research conducted in the Borch group please click here.
Recent Publications
Wu, D.; Dolfing, J.; Xie, B., Bacterial perspectives on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in domestic wastewater bio-treatment systems: beneficiary to victim. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 2017. Doi: 10.1007/s00253-017-8665-y
Wu, D.; Huang, XH.; Sun, JZ.; Graham, D.; Xie, B.; Antibiotic resistance genes and associated microbial community conditions in aging landfill systems. Environmental Science & Technology 2017 51 (21), 12859–12867; Doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b03797
Wu, D.; Chen, G.; Zhang, X.; Yang, K.; Xie, B.; Change in microbial community in landfill refuse contaminated with antibiotics facilitates denitrification more than the increase in ARG over long-term. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 41230, Doi: 10.1038/srep41230
Wu, D.; Huang, Z.; Yang, K.; Graham, D.; Xie, B., Relationships between antibiotics and antibiotic resistance gene levels in municipal solid waste leachates in Shanghai, China. Environmental Science & Technology 2015, 49, (7), 4122-8; Doi:10.1021/es506081z
Check My CV for more details and full lists of publications.
For more publications in the Borch group please click here.
Collaborators
Here I must show my regards to my PhD professor, Dr. Xie Bing, as he helps me a lot to establish the following partnerships.
Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration (more details)
CSU & ECNU Create Joint Research Institute for New Energy and the Environment (more details)
Prof. David W. Graham & Dr. Jan Dolfing, School of Civil Engineering and Geoscience, Newcastle University (more details)
Prof. Zhang Xiaojun, School of Microbiology, Shanghai Jiaotong University (more details)
Shanghai Tongji Gao-Tingyao Environmental Science & Technology Development Foundation: 2017 Distinguished Young PhD student Fellowship (more details)
China Scholarship Council: 2017 High Level International Co-cultivation PhD Fellowship (more details)
Shanghai Minhang District Environmental Protection Bureau (more details)
Shanghai Minhang Environmental Protection Co. Ltd.
Shanghai Fengxin Environmental Protection Science and Technology Co. Ltd. (more details)
Previous Institutions
B.Eng., Anyang Institute of Technology, China
MSc, School of Civil Engineering and Geoscience, Newcastle University, UK
Research Assistant, Lab of David Graham, School of Civil Engineering and Geoscience, Newcastle University