Professor Timothy LaPara

Knowledge of the microorganisms in drinking water and of sewage are critically important for different reasons. In drinking water, we try to limit the presence of microorganisms because they could be pathogenic and thus make us sick. In wastewater treatment, the microorganisms usually are responsible for remediate sewage such that it can be returned to the world without adversely affecting surface waters. This research, therefore, looks at the microbiome of drinking water and of wastewater/sewage. Of particular interest is the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can be detected in shotgun metagenomic libraries (i.e., by looking for antibiotic resistance genes).