Felipe-Andres Piedra, Ph.D.
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Felipe-Andres Piedra, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Molecular Virology & Microbiology)
Positions
- Assistant Professor (Molecular Virology & Microbiology)
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Molecular Virology & Microbiology
7m视频
Houston, TX US
Addresses
- BCM-Jesse H. Jones Hall (Lab)
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Room: BCMJ-243E
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Education
- PhD from UT Southwestern
- 01/2015 - Dallas, Texas United States
- Molecular biophysics
- BS from Texas A&M University
- 12/2008 - College Station
- Cell and Molecular Biology
Professional Interests
- bioremediation
- biophysics
- biosemiotics
- eco-microbiology
Projects
- Accelerating PET plastic biodegradation for rapid conversion to biomass
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) pollution, although enormous, is a microcosm of total plastic pollution. It bears the same concerning hallmarks, mainly global environmental spread and presence of MNPs within organisms. It is however much more tractable, as the problem concerns a single type of polymer. Nonetheless, the solutions generated to effectively deal with PET pollution will inspire those needed for the larger, more general, and complex problem of total plastic pollution. We study Piscinibacter sakaiensis (P. sakai), a versatile bacterium that evolved to slowly but completely consume PET, with the goal of getting it to consume PET faster. Ultimately, we hope to develop a simple process for the rapid fermentation of PET waste to microbial biomass for use in a variety of ecocentric and green technological applications.
Languages
Spanish
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