Name: Dr. Niall O' Leary
Position: Lecturer
T: 353 (0)21 4901972
F: 353 (0)21 4903101
E: n.oleary@ucc.ie
Biography
Academic Career
1992 - 1996: BSc,
Microbiology, University College Cork
1996 - 2001: PhD, University College Cork
2001- 2004: Post Doctoral
Researcher; Biodegradable polymer production from a petrochemical industry
waste pollutant compound. Environmental Research Institute, U.C.C.
2004 - 2005: PDR; Phosphate removal from
industrial waste water by activated sludge under low pH. Microbiology Dept,
U.C.C.
2005 - Pres: Lecturer (Fixed Term), Microbiology Dept, U.C.C.
2006 - Pres: Principal investigator, Environmental Research
Institute, U.C.C.
2009 – : MSc in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Dept of Education, U.C.C.
Additional Positions and Awards
2003 - : Member of the EU-US Environmental Biotechnology taskforce (EU FP6)
2005 - : Instructor for the Harvard Graduate School of Education Wide World, on-line professional development programme.
2008 - : H. Dip. Teaching/Learning in Higher Education.
Teaching areas
- Food and Industrial Microbiology
- Food Mycology
- Research Methods in Microbiology
Research interests and expertise
- Environmental Microbiology and biotechnology
- Waste Water remediation
- Microbial ecology of activated sludge systems
- Microbial biodegradable polymers
Research
Research Overview
Waste stream conversions to Value added products
Polyhydroxyalkanoates, (PHAs), are biodegradable polyesters which are synthesised intracellularly by a number of microbial species when they encounter an excess of carbon substrate, offset by an inorganic nutrient limitation. The production of these ‘bioplastics’ has received significant, global research interest as they offer a potential replacement polymer for environmentally recalcitrant petrochemical plastics. However, fermentation costs coupled with additional downstream processing have thus far hampered the economic competitiveness of PHAs produced from pure cultures. The use of mixed microbial cultures for PHA synthesis offers a possible solution as they can utilise a range of carbon substrates and do not require aseptic fermentation equipment/handling. The group is currently investigating the potential for stable PHA accumulation by an enriched, activated sludge microbial consortium utilising industrial waste water streams as feed stock.
Novel biological process design for nutrient remediation in industrial waste streams.
The removal of inorganic phosphates and nitrates from Irish food industry wastewaters prior to release into natural water bodies is essential to prevent destructive eutrophication of the latter due to inorganic nutrient accumulation. Our group has spent several years investigating the use of activated sludge systems to treat waste waters generated by dairy ingredients processing plants. Treatment requires feeding the influent to a microbial sludge consortium under aerobic/anaerobic cycling conditions which, in the presence of specific volatile fatty acids, stimulates phosphate uptake rates exceeding the nutritional requirements of the sludge organisms. While this approach is routinely applied to municipal wastewater systems, our studies have identified several aspects of food industry grade wastewater capable of destabilising the traditional BPR process. The group is currently investigating novel approaches to biological nutrient removal involving the combined use of low-pH induced phosphate uptake with nitrification/dentirification.
Microbial Ecology of activated sludge systems
Activated sludge systems for the biological treatment of waste waters represent highly diverse ecological environments, prone to rapid shifts in population dynamics in response to fluctuations in influent composition and reactor operational settings. Our group is currently working to characterise such fluctuations within our waste treatment systems to correlate population dynamics with high performance reactor outputs and to determine the efficacy of population manipulations on system outputs. The group is also studying biotechnological potential of pure culture isolates from the laboratory sludge systems, notably yeast species, which have been found to demonstrate high nutrient removal capacities in combination with diverse hydrolase expression profiles.
Research
funding and grants
In collaboration with Prof Alan Dobson:-
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries: FIRM 06 RD&C 454: Novel biotechnological approaches to nutrient removal from dairy industry (2006-2010)
- Environmental Protection agency STRIVE (EPA-PhD 06); Production of Biodegradable polymers from dairy industry waste water 2007 -2010
- Environmental Protection agency STRIVE; Investigation of global regulatory signals in catabolite repression of aromatic degradative pathways in Pseudomonas (EPA-PhD -08) 2008 - 2011
- Environmental Protection agency STRIVE (2007: FS-ET-9-M5); Characterisation of complex two-component regulatory pathways controlling catabolic pathway for styrene degradation in Pseudomonas putida CA-3. 2007-2009
Research Projects and Collaborators
Industrial waste water remediation/microbial ecology - Dr. Christina Forbes
PHA production from Industrial waste streams – Mary McCullagh
Global regulation of aromatic compound catabolism – Dr. Mark O’ Mahony; William Ryan
Collaborations:
Professor Alan Dobson, University College Cork
Dr Julian Marchesi, Cardiff University
Industrial Research Links:
Kerry Foods, Listowel, Co. Kerry
Glan Bia, Ballytor, Co. Kildare
En-Bio, Little Island, Co. Cork
Selected Publications
Christina M. Forbes, Niall D. O'Leary, Alan D. Dobson, Julian R. Marchesi (2009) The contribution of 'omic'-based approaches to the study of enhanced biological phosphorus removal microbiology . FEMS Microbial Ecol. 69 (1); Pages:1-15.
Tobin, K., N. D. O' Leary, A.D.W. Dobson and K.E. O' Connor. (2007). The effect of heterologous expression of phaG ((R)-3-hydroxyacyl-ACP-CoA transferase) on polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulation from the aromatic hydrocarbon phenylacetic acid in Pseudomonas species. FEMS Microbiol Letts 268, 9 – 15
Mooney, A., N. D. O' Leary, and A. D. W. Dobson. (2006). Cloning and functional characterisation of the styE gene involved in styrene transport in Pseudomonas putida CA-3. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72:1302-9.
O' Leary, N. D., K. E. O' Connor, P. Ward, M. Goff and A. D. W. Dobson. (2005). Genetic characterisation of polyhydroxyalkanoate accumulation from styrene in P. putida CA-3. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:4380-4387.
O' Connor K. E., N. D. O' Leary, J. R. Marchesi, A.D.W. Dobson and W.A. Duetz. (2005). Isolation and characterizationof a diverse group of phenylacetic acid degrading microorganisms from pristine soil. Chemosphere. 61, 965-973.
Alemayehu, D., L. M. Gordon, N. D. O' Leary and A.D.W. Dobson. (2004). Cloning and functional analysis by gene disruption of a novel gene involved in indigo production and fluoranthene metabolism in Pseudomonas alcalagines PA10. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 239:285-293
Research Projects in the group
- Biological approaches to Industrial Waste Water Remediation
- Biodegradable polymer production from Industrial waste streams
- Microbial Ecology of waste treatment systems
Links