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Blanke, Kristina
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Boley, Patricia
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Bolterstein, Elyse
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Booth, Clarissa
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Brody, Matthew
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Bultman, JoAnna
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Burns, Felipe
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Desotelle, Josh
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Ding, Lina
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Elmergreen, Tammy
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Hutchinson, John
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Irving, Amy
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Irving, Roy
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Johnson, Brian
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Johnson, Delinda
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Johnson, Shaina
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Jung-Hynes, Brittney
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Kumar, Kartik
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Lee, Sung-Kyoung
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Lorch, Jeff
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Mehta, Vatsal
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Novick, Rachel
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Park, Heesoo
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Pham, Ly
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Poenitzsch, Ashley
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Rhoads, Keelia
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Rufer, Echoleah
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Sand, Jordan
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Schmit, Travis
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Shan, Weihua
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Shanle, Erin
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Shetty, Ameesha
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Syed, Deeba
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Tarapore, Rohinton
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Velasco, Javier
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Wiecinski, Paige
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Wong, Letitia
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Yang, Sarah
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Yu, Min
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Zhao, Yun
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Calkins, Marcus
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Shetty, Ameesha
 Ameesha Shetty - Email
PhD Candidate - Started 2006
Native of India
Lab of Bill Hickey, PhD
Graduate Work
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA
Master of Science, Biotechnology (2006)
University of Mumbai: Mumbai 400032 Maharashtra, India
Master of Science, Life Sciences (2004)
Undergraduate Work
St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, India.
Bachelor of Science, Life Sciences (2002)
Research Spring 2008
Enhanced reductive dechlorination of Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons
Chlorinated ethenes such as trichloroethylene (TCE) are widely distributed in the environment. Chloroethenes are found in many sediments, soils and groundwater aquifers. Traditional methods have been found to be ineffective. Therefore, in-situ remediation methods like Enhanced reductive dechlorination (ERD) are emerging as an efficient means of clean-up. Reductive dechlorination involves sequential removal of chlorines from chloroethenes eventually generating non-toxic non-chlorinated end-products. Under anaerobic conditions, PCE and TCE are dechlorinated to cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene (DCE) (or trans-1,2-DCE), Vinyl chloride (VC) and then to ethene. In an ERD process, organic carbon substrate is injected into the contaminated zone in order to stimulate biodegradation of the substrate, thereby generating the electrons and hydrogen required for dechlorination of chloroethenes. Under natural conditions, the dechlorination process might stall, leading to accumulation of c-DCE and VC, which are known to be toxic. VC is more toxic than its parent compound. Therefore a major goal of ERD would be to effectively stimulate the late stage reactions in the dechlorination process leading to formation of non-toxic end-products such as ethene. These late stage reactions are known to occur along with the establishment of methanogenic conditions. However, the microbial communities that support dechlorination and their activities under these conditions are not well known. The objectives of my project are to delineate the microbial community dynamics after electron donor augmentation and study the changes in TCE degradation in microcosm and field samples. The chemical changes occurring within the microcosm are analyzed using gas chromatography. This study involves the application of molecular techniques to determine how community structure changes during the course of TCE dechlorination, and thereby identifying microbial biomarkers that are potentially diagnostic of the process.
Hobbies
Reading, Watching movies, Traveling
Photo to Left Ameesha with PhD advisor Bill Hickey
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