Syed A. Hashsham

Professor Michigan State University

  • East Lansing MI

I am an environmental engineer engaged in addressing environmental and health issues using molecular biology, genomics, and microfluidics.

Contact

Michigan State University

View more experts managed by Michigan State University

Biography

I am trained as an environmental engineer with training and interests in molecular biology and microbial ecology. Majority of my research projects focus on integration of molecular biology, microbial ecology, genomics, microfluidics, and consumer electronics to address environmental engineering and human health issues. They can be categorified under three closely related themes: A) understanding how complex microbial communities work, B) development of parallel detection tools, and C) development/evaluation of processes relevant to environmental biotechnology. My research grants have been sponsored by the NIEHS, EPA, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, various industries, and SERDP. Currently, I am serving as a Lead PI for Project 4 (Gut microbiome-host-toxicant interactions) – one of the research projects under MSU’s Superfund Research Program. This project is heavily focused on the role of gut microbiome in alleviating the effects of toxicants (TCDD). As part of this project, my research team is using multiple “omics” tools to decipher the interactions between the host and microbiome using germ-free and traditional mouse models. These include genomics of the host and microbiome, microRNA expression analysis focusing on the host, proteomics, and metabolomics.

Industry Expertise

Writing and Editing
Education/Learning
Research
Environmental Services

Areas of Expertise

Bioremediation
Antimicrobial Resistance
Microbial Ecology
Environmental Biotechnology
Molecular Biology
Low-Cost Diagnostics
Gut Microbiome

Education

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ph.D.

Environmental Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

M.S.

Environmental Engineering and Science

Aligarh Muslim University, India

B.S.

Civil Engineering

Journal Articles

Primer set 2.0 for highly parallel qPCR array targeting antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Robert D Stedtfeld, Xueping Guo, Tiffany M Stedtfeld, Hongjie Sheng, Maggie R Williams, Kristin Hauschild, Santosh Gunturu, Leo Tift, Fang Wang, Adina Howe, Benli Chai, Daqiang Yin, James R Cole, James M Tiedje, Syed A Hashsham

2018

The high-throughput antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) qPCR array, initially published in 2012, is increasingly used to quantify resistance and mobile determinants in environmental matrices. Continued utility of the array; however, necessitates improvements such as removing or redesigning questionable primer sets, updating targeted genes and coverage of available sequences.

View more

Evaluation of Nucleic Acid Isothermal Amplification Methods for Human Clinical Microbial Infection Detection

Frontiers in Microbiology

Brett E. Etchebarne, Zenggang Li, Robert D. Stedtfeld, Michael C. Nicholas, Maggie R. Williams, Timothy A. Johnson, Tiffany M. Stedtfeld, Tanja Kostic, Walid T. Khalife, James M. Tiedje, Syed A. Hashsham and Mary J. Hughes

2017

Battling infection is a major healthcare objective. Untreated infections can rapidly evolve toward the condition of sepsis in which the body begins to fail and resuscitation becomes critical and tenuous. Identification of infection followed by rapid antimicrobial treatment are primary goals of medical care, but precise identification of offending organisms by current methods is slow and broad spectrum empirical therapy is employed to cover most potential pathogens.

View more

Most probable number with visual based LAMP for the quantification of reductive dehalogenase genes in groundwater samples

Journal of Microbiological Methods

Yogendra H Kanitkar, Robert D Stedtfeld, Paul B Hatzinger, Syed A Hashsham, Alison M Cupples

2017

The remediation of chlorinated solvent contaminated sites frequently involves bioaugmentation with mixed cultures containing Dehalococcoides mccartyi. Their activity is then examined by quantifying reductive dehalogenase (RDase) genes. Recently, we described a rapid, low cost approach, based on loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), which allowed for the visual detection of RDase genes from groundwater. In that study, samples were concentrated (without DNA extraction), incubated in a water bath (avoiding the use of a thermal cycler) and amplification was visualized by the addition of SYBR green (post incubation).

View more

Show All +