The degradation of clean freshwater sources due to microbial pollutants has adverse effects on human health and the environment. Best Management Practices (BMPs) are engineered pollution-control systems that supplement traditional water treatment methods with alternate filtrative, vegetative and structural practices. A potential addition to bioretention basins, a type of BMP, is fungal mycelium that operates as a biologically active filter. Mycelium is the vegetative body of fungi and is known to secrete antibacterial enzymes. Previous research has indicated through permeability and resiliency testing that Pleurotus ostreatus could potentially inactivate Escherichia coli present in contaminated water. This research provides a systematic approach to determining and testing conditions to increase E. coli inactivation using mycelium. A poster session deriving from special studies and SURF with Niveen Ismail, Assistant Professor of Engineering.
by Ruth Penberthy ‘21 and Sarah Miller ‘23