Expertise

Distinguished Engineering Professor, Chemical Engineering

Director, Rhode Island Consortium for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Bose’s current research encompasses colloidal and interfacial engineering. Major thrust areas in his laboratory are the use of novel techniques for contaminant detection in sea and fresh water as well as the influence of anthropogenic stressors, such as microplastics, on marine and freshwater bacteria. Important natural processes that follow a polluting stressor are bacterial colonization and degradation, and they can be used to assess resilience. Furthermore, these bacteria can contribute to biodegradation. Cyanobacteria (CB) is a gram-negative bacterium, prevalent in abundance in ocean waters. CB senses, then attaches and responds biologically to microplastics. Bose’s research team has exposed CB to microplastics, and then used time-resolved cryogenic scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy to monitor CB attachment, and the development of biofilms (Langmuir, 36, 3692-3699). The team has sequenced CB DNA to understand mutations caused by exposure to microplastics. (PLoS ONE, 15, e0232745 (2020))