Claudia Gunsch, PhD, MS, BS

Environmental Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory

Associate Professors

Duke University

Contact Information

Office Address:

127 Hudson Hall

+1 919 660 5208

Biography

Dr. Claudia Gunsch began her academic career at Purdue University where she earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1998. She then matriculated to Clemson University where she earned her M.S. in 2000 and immediately entered the doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Gunsch comes to Duke with a wide range of research experiences in microbial engineering systems. Gunsch's research has primarily focused on pollutant degradation as applied to groundwater and air pollution treatment. During the early stages of her graduate studies, her work focused on chlorinated compound degradation by bacteria in groundwater. During her doctoral work, she investigated the fungal degradation of aromatic compounds in biofiltration. As part of her innovative research, she incorporates quantitative molecular biological techniques into her research to link macroscale vapor-phase bioreactor performance to phenomena occurring at the microscale in the biofilm.

At Duke, Gunsch plans to continue her research with projects that further link biotechnology to environmental engineering applications. Some of the projects which she is incorporating into her research program include: 1) identifying genetic adaptation mechanisms resulting from anthropogenic contaminant exposure, 2) developing biosensors capable of pathogen and contaminant detection in water and air, 3) studying the impact of emerging contaminants on aquatic microbial ecology and 4) the development of novel techniques for controlling pathogen proliferation. In addition to her research interests, she teaches basic and advanced classes in environmental engineering such as such as environmental molecular biotechnology, environmental microbiology and biological processes in environmental engineering.

Research Interests

Identifying genetic adaptation mechanisms resulting from anthropogenic contaminant exposure; developing biosensors capable of pathogen and contaminant detection in water and air; studying the impact of emerging contaminants on aquatic microbial ecology; and the development of novel techniques for controlling pathogen proliferation

CEINT Publications

E. Hicks, Wiesner, M. R. , and Gunsch, C. K. , “Modeling bacteriophage-induced inactivation of Escherichia coli utilizing particle aggregation kinetics”, Water Research, vol. 171, p. 115438, 2020.

D. E. Gorka, Osterberg, J. S. , Gwin, C. A. , Colman, B. P. , Meyer, J. N. , Bernhardt, E. S. , Gunsch, C. K. , DiGulio, R. T. , and Liu, J. , “Reducing Environmental Toxicity of Silver Nanoparticles through Shape Control”, Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 49, no. 16, pp. 10093 - 10098, 2015.

S. - R. Chae, Hunt, D. E. , Ikuma, K. , Yang, S. , Cho, J. , Gunsch, C. K. , Liu, J. , and Wiesner, M. R. , “Aging of fullerene C60 nanoparticle suspensions in the presence of microbes”, Water Research, vol. 65, pp. 282 - 289, 2014.

C. L. Alito and Gunsch, C. K. , “Assessing the Effects of Silver Nanoparticles on Biological Nutrient Removal in Bench-Scale Activated Sludge Sequencing Batch Reactors”, Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 970 - 976, 2014.

C. L. Arnaout and Gunsch, C. K. , “Impacts of Silver Nanoparticle Coating on the Nitrification Potential of Nitrosomonas europaea”, Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 46, no. 10, pp. 5387 - 5395, 2012.

B. P. Colman, Arnaout, C. L. , Anciaux, S. , Gunsch, C. K. , Hochella, M. F. , Kim, B. , Lowry, G. V. , McGill, B. M. , Reinsch, B. C. , Richardson, C. J. , Unrine, J. M. , Wright, J. P. , Yin, L. , and Bernhardt, E. S. , “Low Concentrations of Silver Nanoparticles in Biosolids Cause Adverse Ecosystem Responses under Realistic Field Scenario”, PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 2, p. e57189, 2013.

C. L. Arnaout and Gunsch, C. K. , “Impacts of silver nanoparticles on the growth and composition of microbial communities found in wastewater”, WEFTEC, Los Angeles, CA (October 15-19, 2011). 2011.

C. L. Arnaout and Gunsch, C. K. , “Measuring the antibacterial impacts of silver nanoparticles”, Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Meeting, Tampa, FL (July 10-12, 2011). 2011.

C. L. Arnaout, Bernhardt, E. S. , Richardson, C. J. , and Gunsch, C. K. , “Impacts of Silver Nanoparticles on the Growth and Composition of Microbial Communities Found in Wastewater”, 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, San Diego, CA (May 23-27, 2010), 2010.

C. L. Arnaout and Gunsch, C. K. , “Impacts of Silver Nanoparticles on the Growth and Composition of Microbial Communities Found in Wastewater”, Environmental Effects of Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials: 2010, Clemson, SC (August 22-26, 2010), 2010.

C. L. Arnaout, Gunsch, C. K. , Bernhardt, E. S. , and Richardson, C. J. , “Impacts of Silver Nanoparticles on the Growth and Composition of Microbial Communities Found in Wastewater and Soil”, International Conference on the Environmental Implications of Nanomaterials, Los Angeles, CA (May 10-12, 2010), 2010.

S. R. Chae, Wang, S. , Hendren, Z. , Wiesner, M. R. , Watanabe, Y. , and Gunsch, C. K. , “Effects of fullerene nanoparticles on Escherichia coli K12 respiratory activity in aqueous suspension and potential use for membrane biofouling control”, Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 329, pp. 68-74, 2009.