CHE 598 Seminar: Microbiomes Under Pressure Insights from Engineered and Natural Systems
About the event
SPEAKER: Dr. Sakcham Bairoliya, Postdoctoral Research Associate, WSU Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Sakcham Bairoliya is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University. He received his Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University, where he investigated extracellular nucleic acids in drinking water distribution systems. Prior to joining WSU, he served as a Research Fellow at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering at NTU, Singapore. His research explores microbiomes across natural and engineered environments, with a focus on linking microbial ecology to environmental sustainability and One Health. He integrates advanced molecular tools, multi-omics, bioinformatics, and field-to-laboratory experimentation to decipher microbial adaptations, interactions, and functional dynamics. Among notable achievements, he received the Young Investigator Award from the Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, for his work on extracellular RNA in drinking water systems and was featured on national television for his research on plastic-degrading microbiomes derived from worm gut community.
ABSTRACT:
Microorganisms were the first inhabitants of Earth and remain the engines of biogeochemical transformation across natural and engineered systems. Despite their ubiquity and resilience, a mechanistic understanding of how microbial communities adapt to environmental changes, particularly at the community scale, remains limited. Anthropogenic interventions and perturbations offer powerful opportunities to investigate these adaptive processes in systems that are both controlled and environmentally relevant.
To investigate these adaptive processes, two contrasting systems are considered: an engineered environment and a natural ecosystem. Engineered drinking water distribution systems serve as a model of persistent microbial life under extreme oligotrophy and chronic disinfectant stress. These microbes may be responsible for water-borne disease outbreaks. In parallel, recalcitrant plastics introduced into environmental systems create an emerging ecological niche, driving microorganisms to colonize polymer surfaces and influence their environmental fate. Examining these systems reveals how ecological interactions govern functional stability under stress and provides a foundation for translating adaptive strategies into application, including the rational design of stable and reproducible plastic-degrading consortia inspired by the worm gut microbiome. Together, these examples illustrate how studying microbial adaptation in human-impacted environments advances ecological theory while enabling sustainable biotechnological innovation.